


Super Junior Prompts

by coley_merrin



Category: Super Junior
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-27
Updated: 2017-03-26
Packaged: 2018-10-11 09:35:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 28,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10461729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coley_merrin/pseuds/coley_merrin
Summary: Various pairings and prompts





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This compilation will have various pairings and themes and ratings. Please read the prompts to be sure!

***

**Prompt:** Jonghyun/Zhou Mi fluff: Height differences. Mi likes bending down to kiss Jong, Jong likes when Zhou Mi lifts him to kiss? 

***

There had been some push and pull to start. Some of it was just stubbornness on Jonghyun’s part because he was used to be his height but not to be dating someone so much taller. But he wasn’t going to grow and there was only so much stooping that Zhou Mi could do - seriously or in tease.

But they both discovered good things about it, things that made it so much more than just about height and more about how they were together. Like when Jonghyun wrapped his arms around Zhou Mi’s neck and by accident or not, Zhou Mi lifted him onto his toes, meeting in the middle of kisses sometimes meant to be more horizontal. Sometimes they ended up that way, or ended with a sly trade of looks, promises for later. (Jonghyun got to do nearly the same thing in bed, which he liked, too, but was a different story altogether.) Jonghyun had a habit of grinning and tilting his face which made it so easy, so nice to just tip right down and kiss him. Standing at the sink, sitting on the couch together. And instead of it offending him, Jonghyun pressed right back into his kisses. It didn’t matter from what altitude the kiss came from, just as long as they were kissing each other.

***

**Prompt:** A fic where wonmi are twins please?? :D kyu may be or may not involved either way..i just really want a fic of twins wonmi lol.. thanks in advance! :3 

***

They were lucky that their mother didn’t insist on dressing them alike as children. It kept them from outright rebelling. When people knew them apart, no one thought anything of it. When they were standing together, they’d gotten the usual question.

“We’re twins,” was the casual answer to it. They shared everything. Clothes, though it was mostly Zhou Mi stealing something when he’d forgotten to wash his own, friends, favorite foods. They didn’t really like all the same movies, but people really hated going out to sing with them because they knew all the same songs and were ruthlessly competitive about it.

It never really surprised him when they found more things in common. Oh, but it did, when Siwon walked into their little meeting place where their friends had assembled with a guy under his arm that Zhou Mi had never seen. Siwon introduced him as Kyuhyun, naming off people one by one and calling out Zhou Mi as his twin. There was only the briefest pause,t he raised eyebrows, and greeting. Kyuhyun ended up near Henry and Siwon pressed in beside Zhou Mi for a second, poking Zhou Mi’s side in a way Siwon knew he hated.

“He’s cute isn’t he?” Siwon asked, smug. Zhou Mi glared, and Siwon smirked. Sometimes he hated having someone who knew him so well. But sometimes it could be great.

***

**Prompt:** angst pls, where qmi are assassin siblings but one day Mi wants to give up killing and start anew bcs he fell in love with qian. ends up Mi get hurt/killed (yr choice  ><) while saving Kyu? a la So Close (2002, Hong Kong) movie. thanks very very much coley! 

***

It was too hard continuing knowing what would happen, but telling Kyuhyun that he needed to stop, that he needed something different was something that was harder for Zhou Mi. Song Qian, she waited for him, but if something had happened, he knew she would have never truly known. It was all he knew, the quite nerves with Kyuhyun steady at his side, the satisfying slide of weapons in his hand, the waiting. They knew what to do without speaking, an eyebrow, the flick of a gaze and Kyuhyun knew what he was thinking. In, out, surgical. On to the next.

He’d thought he’d be at it until he found the job that he couldn’t do, or until his body couldn’t stand it.

It wasn’t inattention that caught him. It was sheer bad luck. He felt the impact, the searing pain was the shock that came steps after, clutching at his side, his ribs as though they were going to burn off of his body. He croaked out a warning, falling to a knee and Kyuhyun spun with what Zhou Mi first though was anger, and then knew was fear.

Kyuhyun carried him. Zhou Mi saw the blood, the drips of it trailing behind them, the slick on Kyuhyun’s hands as they waited in the quiet back of the van they used to get away. It sped, and Zhou Mi’s heart lodged complaint in his chest.

“You’ll be okay,” Kyuhyun babbled, putting pressure on the wound.

“Kyuhyun, I can’t— I wanted to—“

He wanted more than just an anonymous end. He wanted a future.

“I know. I know about her. I’ll take you to her. Zhou Mi! Look at me. Look at me! You’re going to be okay.”

“Kyuhyun,” he said, the name ripping through him.

He gripped Kyuhyun’s hand and fought to keep his vision from swimming. She was waiting.

***

**Prompt:** After Zhou Mi does his stripper dance at SS6, Heechul wants a private show... 

***

Heechul chose the music, which was a kind of relief, because worse than standing in front of Heechul and knowing he was about to get naked was the thought of doing it in silence. The naked part didn’t bother him. And Heechul, sitting like some king awaiting the attention of his subject definitely didn’t bother him. He just didn’t want to start laughing, because he wasn’t sure he’d stop, and Heechul had asked so, so nicely.

He let the rhythm start in his hips, a sway as he listened to the thump of music - not too loud but just loud enough. There were no cheers, just concentration as he curled his fingers around the edge of his shirt and letting it rise. His knees dropped as his hand pulled, giving a flash of skin as he shimmied upward, a tease before he crossed his arms and pulled the fabric up his sides, little by little, inch by inch. It bared his belly, the bottom of his rib cage, and he paused, letting his hips talk as he peeked, catching a glimpse of Heechul’s parted mouth just before he tugged the shirt up higher, over his head, scraping cloth down his arms.

Zhou Mi put his hand on the button of his pants, pausing as he met Heechul’s eyes.

“Is that enough?” he teased.

And Heechul’s eyes promised retribution if he stopped.

***

**Prompt:** BloHyuk pls epik high and suju run into each other at this weekend music shows and there are new blohyuk selfies (sobs i wish there will be epik junior this weekend ㅠㅜ) Thanks Coley! 

***

There was so many familiar faces that it was almost a relief, especially in an industry that seemed to change over minute by minute and get younger while doing it. They all knew each other in various ways, various projects, and Tablo didn’t pa much attention to the others mingling as Hyukjae sidled up to him.

“So, when are you going to come visit me on set some day?” he demanded, and Hyukjae’s grin bloomed immediately.

“When are you going to call me to come over?” Hyukjae demanded, elbowing him. “Or if you want someone to feature…”

Oh, it was sly and Tablo laughed. “How long has it been since we’ve all been on the same show anyway?”

They stopped. They thought. They both did not so much draw blanks as realize it had been far too long.

“Should we mark this moment? Everyone will want to see if we still look alike?”

It made them laugh as they got themselves situating, taking a dozen silly faced pictures before settling into something more serious, totally contrasting as they cracked up again.

“The best of the best,” Tablo intoned.

Hyukjae made sure they both had each other’s numbers so it wouldn’t be as long to the next time.

***

**Prompt:** Hmmmm halloween prompt... yewook maybe? where jongwoon follows a guy wearing a gumiho mask on halloween and somehow takes it off thereby releasing ryeowook from the curse of the gumiho mask where he just wandered silently for centuries bc he couldn't take it off himself or smth XD

***

It wasn’t because the mask was any more eye catching than the others, more intricate, more colorful. But Jongwoon followed it with his head first, and then his body. Perhaps it was the purpose of the man in the gumbo mask, the way he looked from side to side, searching but not finding, slow, deliberate. It was almost as though he needed help, and Jongwoon was curious. Perhaps he searched for a friend. Jongwoon lowered his own mask, standing in the way of the man and waiting. He met the man’s eyes and he found no recognition there, not someone he knew. And the man stopped for him, his body almost swaying as though startled that someone looked at him, acknowledged him.

“Are you looking for someone?” Jongwoon asked.

There was no answer, not a shake of the head or a flicker of a fine-boned finger. The man didn’t move, so still and just looking at him.

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to stop you, I just thought you might need help.” He waited again, and again, silence.. “Are you okay?”

If Jongwoon was truly bothering him, then the man could leave at any time. Perhaps it was some kind of role. And he apologized, moving to the side. The man’s head lowered, walking past Jongwoon, walking as he had been, as though searching. But he was a little slower, his shoulders slumped a little lower as he continued right on to the door. And without finding whoever he’d been looking for, he stepped outside.

And Jongwoon ran.

“Hey wait,” Jongwoon said, and he grabbed the man’s arm. There was no resistance, the man looking up at him just as he had in the room. “You’re going?”

All the man did was breathe.

“Can I…?” Some people already had their masks off, so it wasn’t taboo. But Jongwoon reached anyway, waiting for some sign of resistance, of denial. None came, and though he found no strap, the mask when he tugged on it began to come free.

Dark hair, furrowed eyebrows and closed eyes. A small, straight nose and high cheekbones. It was a face finely composed, and Jongwoon jerked when the man gasped and opened his eyes.

“You freed me!” the man said, and he batted the gumbo mask from Jongwoon’s hands so that it fell, shattered. It made them both jerk, and the man grasped Jongwoon’s hands in both of his. “You saw me and you freed me. I am your servant of gratitude.”

“What?” Jongwoon asked, his mind blank. And it was he who was still when Ryeowook stepped forward, shards of the mask breaking underfoot as Ryeowook wrapped his arms around him.

Two hundred years of the mask’s spell, silent, unable to speak, to gesture to free himself. Children throwing things at him. Unable to eat, to sleep, to die. Ryeowook took his first breaths of freedom, as Jongwoon tried to reorder his understanding of the world.

“What will I do?” Ryeowook asked, his fine, old clothes no costume.

Jongwoon had removed the mask. He was no less captivated by the face that had been beneath, and it was only he who could help.

***

**Prompt:** Friendship/fluffy fluff - Zhou Mi, Jia and Fei having a working sleepover to discuss ideas for idol true colors 

***

Pants were required. That was the only text he got from Jia, and it made him laugh because apparently she had a long memory and was prone to teasing him about things that had happened years before. Dei texted nothing, but when they showed up in sunglasses, individually, each had a bag of “supplies” which ranged from clothes for them, and significant amounts of liquor. He’d changed the sheets on his bed so they could use it, and he planned to make a nest in the outer room until they complained that they couldn’t keep talking if he was sleeping elsewhere. He didn’t snore? No? Then he could sleep on the floor in the room. Sleepy musings were sometimes the best musings.

Which meant that they all somehow ended up huddled on the floor with cups and food, music pouring out of a speaker set in the corner and Zhou Mi almost snorting soju out his nose at a really horrible joke.

“More games,” he croaked, trying to mop himself up. “I like games.”

“You’re not going to spit on them if they lose—“

And Jie shrieked when Zhou Mi flung a stuffed mushroom at her.

“Food tasting,” Fei tossed out.

“We should do a show on site somewhere. A park.”

“Traveling idols,” Zhou Mi teased.

Jia ended up sleeping on the bed, and Fei in a little ball of blankets on the floor. Zhou Mi slept on his little pad and dreamed of dragging recording equipment down to the beach, cooking and running into the ocean as punishment. Impractical. But he woke thinking of it with a smile.

And then woke both his guests, because breakfast was too important to miss.

***

**Prompt:** Can I request blohyuk with haru shenanigans? they'd make the best daddy duo ever  <3 /pointedly ignores the fact that tablo is happily married lol 

***

“What are you doing?”

Haru looked at him with such concern that Hyukjae almost had to look away because it was like she was going to see right into his plans. And even though her sense of secret keeping had vastly improved from a year back when she’d ratted on him for buying extra ice cream, he still wanted to make sure his plans stayed secret.

Though her excitement for them was certainly going to be one of the things he was anticipating, not just Tablo’s.

“Getting a letter ready!” Hyukjae told her instead. He had an envelope. He was writing a note on a piece of paper. It was plausible and also true. “You want to draw a picture to go in it?”

The more the merrier, and it distracted her, though she kept looking back at him like she was onto something.

“Why are kids so smart?” Hyukjae wanted to know later, and Tablo just stared at him. “Are you complimenting her, or her genetics?”

Hyukjae sniffed, and made sure that Haru was there for when he gave Tablo the envelope.

“What’s this?”

“A letter,” Haru helpfully pointed out, and she shared a conspiratorial smile with Hyukjae.

First out was Haru’s drawing, a flower, a crocodile, a mountain. Totally unrelated to the letter and what it was wrapped around. And true to form, Haru caught on before her father, squawking and reaching to take one of the tickets that started to poke out.

“Disneyland!”

And Hyukjae laughed at Tablo’s shock as Haru rejoiced.

***

**Prompt:** Members watching Mi's REWIND MV together and makes a huge fuss about the romantic parts? Thanks Coley!!!

 

***

They hadn’t seen the full cuts even if some of them had been there to cheer him on during the filming of some of the dance scenes. Zhou Mi sat back, eyes flicking from the screen to different faces.

He both half expected and was surprised by the sudden commotion at such a thing as a woman on the screen.

“Zhou Mi is getting it!”

“What did you do!”

Zhou Mi cackled at the ceiling, and just waited because there was the lightbulb scene and simultaneous punches to each shoulder from Donghae and Siwon.

“Sneaky, so sneaky.”

“I wouldn’t have been able to reach that either,” Ryeowook bemoaned.

“That’s why there are ladders,” Kyuhyun pointed out, and got punched himself.

The bed cuddling scene got a chorus of saccharine coos, and sitting there with the recorder a different kind.

“Seduction of the mind,” Youngwoon said, giving him a sideways glance.

And then ll they wanted to know was was she nice, was it easy, how many times did he screw up and start laughing and force it to be filmed again. He was just smug. Of course she’d been nice, and of course he hadn’t messed up. Much. Though the best part beyond all of that was the end when there was unanimous outrage at his naked chest.

***

**Prompt:** Hi Coley! Hope you're doing well!!! I got so excited seeing so many Mi/EXO interactions this weekend XD Can you please write something regarding Mi's Rewind stages and Exo please? Maybe discussing who got to visit him? Thank you!!!

 

***

It wasn’t unusual to see the hosts milling about, either getting ready or prepping for interviews or just chatting with their friends among the industry. It was Joonmyun who spotted him first, and there was a moment of recognition before Joonmyun crossed the room and tried valiantly to engulf Zhou Mi in a hug.

People were staring and Zhou Mi just about exploded in delight at the enthusiastic greeting, and Baekhyun was just behind him. 

“We saw your performance yesterday!” Joonmyun said, dragging him with them. “Tao’s so excited to perform with you.”

“When are you going to perform with us?” Baekhyun laughed. “We’re making Chanyeol practice.”

Chanyeol and Tao, who’d both come to set with hugs and oohing and aching of the car and the outfits. ,They greeted him, too, and Amber, when she came to perform with him, with smiles, and thoughts on the performances and patient, studious practice so that they did as best for him as possible. He was grateful, because they were his juniors, his coworkers, part of a whole. But he was happy, because they were his friends, too. He’d trained with Joonmyun, watched him grow up. He’d gotten close to Amber, and learned more about Chanyeol when people asked them to grin next to each other. He’d helped Tao to find more people to support him. Joonmyun squeezed his hand and wished him good luck and he carried bits of home with him to each performance.

***

**Prompt:** Angst Mi? Trying to cheer himself up and feeling a bit down that his supportive friends are all the way in Taiwan/China (maybe someone from chinaline saves the day). Sorry I am feeling angsty about things and projecting it here :-/

 

***

It was difficult being separated from the ones closest to him. Not just his family, but his friends, family he had found and not just the one he’d been born into. The weekly talks with his mother were joyous, but he could only keep up by sporadic messages with others. Long emails, traded pictures, lives passing each other by without the ability to hop into a coffee shop, connections in person forged in three or four day visits. He wanted those to be longer, wanted the distances to be shorter. But he also wanted his skin never to break out, and for his cold to go away, and for everyone to be able to eat. Some things were just more attainable.

His phone buzzing nearly sent him off his chair, a text when he’d been expecting everyone to be asleep.

“Little Mi, surely you are up still?”

Feifei.

“Your Little Mi is here,” he texted back, chuckling.

Instead of texting him an address like a normal person, she sent him a screen shot of a map with a cafe name on it, one he knew. One they’d been at together, and he dressed quickly, stepping into his shoes.

“How did you know I was feeling lonely?” he asked, sliding into the chair across from her.

She smirked at him, stirring her drink. “I was feeling hungry. Who were you feeling lonely for?”

Too many people. But he couldn’t ever forget that there were people close who meant so much.

***

**Prompt:** FeiMi prompt? Where jokes of liking each other are actually half-meant, but they both know they wouldn't last five minutes if they actually started dating each other. A bit of angst would be fine (like Geng's ex-files movie if you have seen that) but they remain best friends~~ -Joycee :)

 

***

They’d been bickering for the last hour, smacking at each other, eye rolls. It was amusing to watch, for the others, but also somewhat frustrating like being on the outside circle.

“Why are you two not dating again?”

“I’m just waiting for her to accept me,” Zhou Mi teased, looking up from where he was diligently forging a hole in the cake with a candle. He met Fei’s eyes, and she stuck her tongue out at him.

“He has to ask me out first,” she sniffed. “Are you putting the candle in or making a canyon with it?”

He finished pushing it down and he somehow snagged her, hauling her in and hugging her while someone else lit it. There were no obligations like that, friendship as a joy and comfort. They made good friends, insular, a trust there that went deep. Dating would have been just a tiny twist, a change of direction where his projects took him that way, hers another, where meetings of happiness became worry, where obligation obscured gratefulness. The people they were, the goals they had, it split them too much. She wanted a man who could be there for her, someone she could count on night by night. He wasn’t, maybe never would be, but certainly not then.

He’d kissed her, once, a little tipsy both of them. He’d whispered her name, and she’d almost believed, until she woke up half a city away from him and realized it was illusion. They pushed at it, leaned on each other until it felt like they were seeing what would give. They just weren’t willing to give each other up for a momentary thrill, not when they knew each other so well to know what could be so wrong.

They had all they could from each other, and knew it had to be enough.

***

**Prompt:** This is really embarrassing but... Zhou Mi wants SJ to have sex with him all at once~ they all spoil him and tease him when it finally happens. Please make it as dirty as possible? I'd be delighted if you included some double penetration too. Please don't fill that prompt if it makes you uncomfortab

 

***

Whatever he wanted. That was what they told him, filing in and asking how he wanted them. Naked. So greedy, Zhou Mi.. He just…he wanted them. He wanted that connection, having everyone there, being able to touch, to have that focus on him. He kissed them, each of them, lingering in the way he knew each of them liked. If it was odd to be all together, they didn’t show it. He could only do so many things at once, but he had lips on his neck, hands stroking his hips, grasping at his hands and pressing them into hardening cocks so that he could feel they were ready for him. He stopped at Jongwoon first, getting on his knees and feeling the rumble of his moans as he opened his pants and started to blow him. He felt Kyuhyun behind him, knew from his breathing, felt him start to grind against Zhou Mi’s ass as Zhou Mi groped Ryeowook and Youngwoon. It was like some kind of heaven, feeling Jongwoon stiffen and come for him and knowing he didn’t have to wait - he could do anything, suck them all off if he wanted.

He didn’t know what he wanted more, more kisses, another cock in his mouth, to have his way with someone’s nipples. There was just too many things he could do, making figuring out what he wanted too difficult.

Donghae made the choice for him, his cock hard and moisture beading just waiting for him to lick up and he moaned as Donghae began to fuck his mouth, swallowing around him and playing with Donghae’s ass until Donghae was almost shouting and coming down his throat as he sucked. He’d fuck Donghae later, if he could, and he almost choked himself with come, gasping as Kyuhyun worked his cock into him. He reached desperately, kissing all over Ryeowook’s chest as Kyuhyun rocked him and bent him over. And he moaned against Ryeowook’s back as Ryeowook wriggled right under him, backing himself onto Zhou Mi’s cock until he was trapped between them, every movement getting Kyuhyun deeper or taking Ryeowook more. It was no wonder he came first, gripping the edge of a chair and moaning at Kyuhyun’s relentless hips. But Ryeowook came in his hand just a minute before Kyuhyun groaned and pressed himself deep.

Coming should’ve taken the edge off, but he looked up and saw no less than three hard cocks waiting and he grinned to see them. He sprawled on his back and moaned around Sungmin’s cock as Youngwoon had him. He didn’t even know who he was jerking off as he did, just that they were hard and eager, helping him stroke and rubbing all over him. Hyukjae, Donghee, Jungsoo, Henry— his hands were sticky with come, his chin, and he wan’t finished. Youngwoon played with his cock and he almost came, but Youngwoon did first, his hips flexing and making Zhou Mi moan knowing he was coming in him. 

Siwon— Siwon kissed him, kissed the come from his lips, his face, kissed him and pulled him over him and offered his cock for Zhou Mi and he lowered himself onto it, still hard and waiting. He sighed at the hands stroking his back, petting his hair as another cock pressed to his lips. He rode Siwon’s cock and moaned around Heechul.

“Saving the best for last,” Heechul told him and Zhou Mi hummed and did his best with tiring lips and aching tongue. But he didn’t come, much as Zhou Mi tried, much as Zhou Mi protested as Heechul pulled away from him.

“You look a little empty, there,” Heechul said, pushing on his shoulders and forcing him down a little further on Siwon’s cock. Siwon wasn’t small, so empty wasn’t what he’d have said, though he wondered who he was going to get his mouth on next. “Lean forward.”

Zhou Mi did, bracing himself above Siwon and giving a couple little teasing rolls of his hips that had Siwon moaning, grinning up at him. Heechul’s fingers rubbing around Siwon’s cock had them both squirming, his fingers slick and warm. But it was Zhou Mi who’s eyes widened as Heechul pressed him further, angling his hips and making Siwon gasp as the pressure hit them both.

“You’ve taken more,” Heechul said and Zhou Mi cried out as his body gave, Heechul’s cock sliding into him insistent little bursts as he pulled Zhou Mi up, pulled him back, sliding Siwon’s cock deeper. More. More, yes, he wanted it even if he didn’t know he could take it. Siwon was almost writhing underneath of him, his hips lifting desperately as Zhou Mi tightened around him and Heechul’s cock rubbed against his. It stung. It stung, and Heechul rubbed his chest, grunting as he fucked and set the rhythm for all three of them.

Heechul gripped his nipples and rode him, Siwon’s cock and Heechul’s in counterpoint.

His next moan was surprised delight as he began to throb again, caught between two men.

If it had been a competition, Siwon lost, his back arching and hips lifting as he tried desperately to get himself as deep as possible as he came. It felt like some kind of victory, or it would have if he could have breathed, groaning as Heechul pressed even deeper when his was the only cock inside him.

He would’t have been pleased when Zhou Mi’s first thought was, he didn’t feel like Heechul alone was enough, but that was Heechul’s own fault and he still made Zhou Mi moan. He still made Zhou Mi come, no one touching him but Heechul, no one causing it but Heechul. And he groaned as Heechul’s teeth set against his shoulder and Heechul came for him, stroking Zhou Mi’s face as he pulled away. Zhou Mi languished in kisses, thanking those who were still conscious, being thanked, too, with smiles and heavy eyes.

The room smelled of sex, and most everyone was sated, lounging, sleeping, talking. He downed almost an entire bottle of water, crawling to Donghae and letting Donghae harden in his mouth, slow, easy. It gave him time to get hard again, too, from the kisses before. Donghae moaned under him as Zhou Mi slid into him, and Zhou Mi heard several others stirring and wondered what would be next.

***

**Prompt:** coley! something kyuhae from that long hug donghae gave kyu on stage?

 

***

Donghae wore too much cologne, that was his one complaint, and it was swamping to him both familiar and overwhelming to be engulfed like that, to have that unexpected thing from someone he’d admired. They’d teased him about his crush for so long, and he felt like had back when he was a teenager, awestruck by Donghae’s laugh and wanted to be part of that inside circle somehow even if that was nowhere near where he’d ever expected to be. He’d expected to be alone, to lead somehow, to be in charge. Donghae’s smile or hugs hadn’t taken away that want but he couldn’t help himself but melt a little, feel some of his exclusion turn to something else. He’d been part of them, was never not going to be. Donghae wouldn’t have allowed it anyway.

He wasn’t sure if Donghae was shouting for him or saying things to him, or maybe promising he was going to feed him but Kyuhyun also didn’t care because instead of just standing there awkward and alone - so much less awkward than he had been once and Donghae played a part of that - he had a huge part of his world wrapped around him.

***

**Prompt:** Oh~ now I know that it's ok to prompt them! :D Kyuhae where Kyuhyun has been acting shy and out of sorts and Donghae (literally) pins him down to find out what the matter is. (This could turn into interesting dongkyumi if you want ahaha)

 

***

It wasn’t like Kyuhyun was the loudest one, or that he really leaped in to interrupt or talk. But he did laugh, talk back when he was talked to, joke with them. When he wasn’t himself, they knew it, whether he was too tired, or if he was sick. But that was easy to tell, and that night he was just…there.

Donghae allowed it, for a while, trying to get Kyuhyun to engage and not liking at all how Kyuhyun wouldn’t meet his eyes and was chuckling awkward and strange when Donghae poked his side.

“Let’s go,” Donghae said, and Kyuhyun sputtered, though Donghae was either going to get him to stand or just drag him along with him. The others ignored it, not weird when someone broke off for whatever reason, and Kyuhyun just resisted.

“What’s up?” Kyuhyun tried to ask, and Donghae just nudged him back until he was sitting on the bed, and then scrambling backward as Donghae climbed right up with him. “Hey!”

“What’s wrong?” Donghae demanded, and his hands were planted on Kyuhyun’s chest, not that he could’ve gotten up without throwing Donghae off of him. “You wouldn’t talk. Or look at me? Did I do something?”

“No??”

It was so incredulous it almost seemed real but Donghae knew better.

“Then why won’t you look at me?”

It was a challenge, and Kyuhyun’s eyes snapped to his, bold, direct. Donghae didn’t think anything would have Kyuhyun breaking that stare, but Kyuhyun looked away first, his chin ducking down.

“See! Something’s weird!”

He didn’t expect Kyuhyun to flush, or to grab at his wrists. “It’s me. It’s okay. You didn’t do anything.”

“Then what?” he asked, even more confused. Kyuhyun half-leaned into his hugs and wouldn’t hardly meet his eyes and sat all still beside him, almost like he had a—

“No,” Kyuhyun said trying to head him off before the thought bloomed fully, but Donghae had gotten there first.

“But it’s me!”

“I couldn’t help it! It’ll go away.”

No wonder Kyuhyun had been weird about Donghae climbing over him. And everything else.

“You want it to go away?”

Kyuhyun gurgled as Donghae narrowed his eyes at him.

“That’s— I didn’t—“

Donghae put his head down on Kyuhyun’s chest and just laughed. He knew it was mean but he couldn’t help himself, the panic on Kyuhyun’s face.

“You don’t have to stop,” Donghae told him, and actually heard Kyuhyun’s heart beat a little faster.

***

**Prompt:** okay, this is TOTALLY random and you can just pretend you never read this prompt, but... how about a zumba!au? blo got REALLY-bored and he decided to sign up for a zumba class and his zumba fitness teacher is hyuk.. and.. yeah, XD

***

It wasn’t that traditional workouts bored Tablo, but…traditional workouts had begun to bore him. He wasn’t suited for yoga, and he found that out after one class, and just regular aerobics made him want to crawl into a hole before the first fifteen minutes were out. Zumba seemed like the best options, given that there was a rhythm to it that wasn’t just defined by whatever random peppy instructions that were being called out. And definitely not defined by the rhythm of his breathing.

And it didn’t sound bad at all, actually, as he skulked at the back of the room. He just wanted to try it out without being judged or watched and then he’d move on if it wasn’t what he wanted. There was a nice mix of men and women, and the instructor was a man too, which surprised him until about 30 seconds into the real instruction of the class. Hyukjae, he introduced himself as, and he walked everyone through what they were doing, how to move. Tablo was doing it, sure, but it was more half-hearted, not realizing there was going to be anyone there who moved quite like that.

Though the second Hyukjae’s eyes moved his way, he became very studious indeed. Moving the opposite direction as everyone else once, but he got back into rhythm.

“First class?” Hyukjae asked, when it was all over and people began filing out.

“It was. It was fun,” he said, and he was honest about that. Even if his body felt a bit like jelly.

First, but when Hyukjae grinned at him and greeted another student, probably not the last one.

***

**Prompt:** henhae, henry spends more time on his back/ass than on his legs

 

***

There was a good reason for it, really: Donghae liked to see him. He didn’t want to see the back of his head, or his ears or anything like that, he just wanted to see Henry, to know it was Henry, and be able to kiss him and nibble his neck and watch him come in every way he could.

He’d teased Donghae, how much he liked it, teased him for all the weird faces he knew he had to make - even Donghae made some, but most times, watching Donghae get off only made him want to more. If Donghae was into that, Henry knew he was so gone over him, and it made him want to laugh, stretching back over the bed and doing his best to look inviting.

Apparently his best was pretty damn good, because Donghae was kissing him, rubbing his hands up Henry’s sides, almost moaning against him as Henry lifted up his hips.

“What do you want?” Henry asked, running his lips down Donghae’s neck and sucking there, right at the base of it.

Donghae’s chuckle told him so many things. What he wanted, how turned on he was, and that when Henry bit at his skin, that Donghae almost collapsed onto him.

Yeah, he wanted all of that, too.

***

**Prompt:** hyukmi, mi being an annoying brat and hyuk takes mi's height as his pet peeve so they bicker a lot but ended up sleeping side by side after filming? thankssss hhe THEIR BICKERING IN GUESTHOUSE IS SO DAMN CUTE 

***

“Don’t hit your head on the light!”

“Don’t take out the top of the doorway.”

“Can you even get in a car like that?”

“You don’t need a step stool to reach that.”

Okay, the last was more of an envious statement than a tease, but Zhou Mi laughed anyway, jabbing at Hyukjae’s shoulders. And actually, he did have to step up because some things were out of reach. Sometimes that was nice even because when he stepped up, he got to sneer down, even though Hyukjae just pretended to ignore him.

“You just grew too much,” Hyukjae told him, sprawled and just as exhausted after having to perform o the camera for hours. Very word was careful.

Zhou Mi just grunted, because the opposite - Hyukjae not growing enough - was obvious and he never wanted to be obvious. He just wiggled a bit closer and waggled his feet down below Hyukjae’s to demonstrate, and got an elbow to the ribs for his trouble.

“Tomorrow will be fun, though,” he said, and Hyukjae murmured. They’d be interrupted, eventually, but Hyukjae’s arm wedged against him didn’t bother him. The opposite, really. It was just a little nap, and one they both deserved.

***

**Prompt:** oooh I thought of another girl!henwook idea! henwook discussing whether or not they'd ever want kids of their own and henry remembers she donated sperm a couple of times when she was still a guy for money as a broke college student XD (feel free to disregard sorry for spamming lol) 

***

“I always thought I’d have a couple kids,” Henry said, grunting a bit as she rolled onto her side. “I mean, not like this though.”

Sex with her new body, liking everything about her life as it was with Ryeowook, those were all great. Getting pregnant, that was something that was only a glimmer on her radar.

“So you wanted to get someone pregnant,” Ryeowook concluded, and Henry laughed, biting around Ryeowook’s tank top strap.

She was about to retort, too, when a thought stopped her, staring into Ryeowook’s cleavage like it was the answer of the universe as her brain raced.

“You know, I still could.”

Ryeowook squinted at her. “You can turn back and you haven’t told me?”

“No. But when I was broke and wanted to eat more than ramen in school, I made a few…uh…donations for some spending money.”

“Donations,” Ryeowook repeated. 

“So I really could knock you up.” And it was said with a leer and an eyebrow waggle, and instead of Ryeowook smacking at her as expected, she looked thoughtful.

“A baby. Our baby.”

“Maybe someday.”

At least, there was a chance anyway. As long as Ryeowook was with her, who knew. Anything could happen.

***

**Prompt:** haemichul fluff

***

Zhou Mi had been responsible for both picking up and setting up the movie, and at no point was Donghae allowed control of the remote.

One time they’d gotten stuck on Spanish subtitles and hadn’t been able to get out of it, to the detriment of only two of them since the movie had been in Mandarin. But Zhou Mi hadn’t had all that much fun relaying every single line of dialogue and missing part of the movie himself.

Heechul had been responsible for being there, which wasn’t so hard since he lived there. He got his own drink, and Donghae opened and disrupted bowls of snacks to everyone’s satisfaction.

“You did well,” Heechul said, his arm around Donghae’s shoulders.

The couch was huge, far big enough for the three of them, and it was silent, mostly, but for sounds of eating as the move started. Little sounds of awe maybe, mostly by Zhou Mi and Donghae. Finished with snacks, Zhou Mi wiggled down, finding a nice spot of Heechul’s thigh to call his own as a pillow. And he claimed that spot, only rocking a bit when Heechul first poked the back of his head and then rested his hand on Zhou Mi’s neck.

“Don’t fall asleep!” Donghae whispered, and Zhou Mi reached up, squeezing Donghae’s hand in reassurance. No, he wanted to see all the way to the end.

***

**Prompt:** haemichul smut 

***

Donghae had been all over him, almost climbing Zhou Mi’s body when he pressed him up against the wall so they could kiss. It wasn’t like Zhou Mi was resisting, cupping Donghae’s head and kissing against Donghae’s moans. Heechul could be just as intent, but he was slower, that time anyway, his hand sliding down Zhou Mi’s stomach as Donghae still did his best to claim his mouth. But Donghae gasped, pulling back, his eyes wide. And Zhou Mi knew that Heechul had gotten Donghae’s pants undone. Donghae moaned into Zhou Mi’s shoulder as Heechul stroked him, and Zhou Mi leaned in, feeling Heechul smile against his lips.

They undressed Donghae together, clothes left strewn as they traded kisses, Donghae and Zhou Mi, Zhou Mi and Heechul, and Heechul leaving marks along Donghae’s neck. He wanted Donghae’s out on him, but not then, not yet, not when he climbed onto the bed and pulled Donghae after him, settling him, kissing him as Heechul settled behind Donghae and pressed against him. And Donghae moaned against Zhou Mi because he knew, he wanted, and they got Zhou Mi’s pants open together, so they could press together, skin to skin, teasing, hard, breathless as Heechul gripped Donghae’s hips and pressed into him. The sounds Donghae made weren’t pain, but sounds that Zhou Mi knew well. Pleas. Bliss. Donghae moaned their names, and ever move Heechul made rocked Donghae against him, against his stroking fingers. Oh, he could imagine what Donghae was feeling, but he could see it all over Donghae’s face, the way that Donghae clung to him and moaned against his mouth. And the way that Donghae’s thighs shook as he came.

Zhou Mi kissed against Donghae’s cheek and smiled at Heechul over his shoulder. Donghae clung to him as Heechul started to move again.

***

**Prompt:** can I bring back girl henwook ;w; wherein jongwoon jokingly suggests that his christmas gift for the both of them is to join them in a threesome and they take him up on it; gladly even, bc though they don't want to admit it, they both miss the d. XD because henyewook is best ot3 

***

It took about half a second to accept. Henry looked to Ryeowook who was already sizing up Jongwoon’s crotch and she was in. She might’ve been jealous, or worried, or something, if it had been Ryeowook going off to fuck Jongwoon all alone, but it wasn’t. Jongwoon wanted both of them, and they planned it, to Henry’s wolfish delight. It’d been too long since they’d had a cock, and longer since they’d shared one, so Ryeowook had planned what they wore - pretty bits of silk or lace that covered and hinted and was meant to be removed. And Jongwoon was at least half hard already when he got there, though he would’ve been when he’d seen them anyway, she preened. And he took each of them in an arm, kissing them, watching as they kissed each other.

“We’re glad you’re here,” Ryeowook said, fondling his neck. Nice to see you, time to fuck.

As much as they anticipated his cock, they had other things in mind like getting off his shirt and getting his hands on them. Jongwoon’s hands all over her breasts, Jongwoon moaning against her mouth as Ryeowook got his pants open and her hand in Henry’s panties almost simultaneously. So good. Too good as Ryeowook stepped behind her back and all but offered Henry to Jongwoon for him to undress her, Ryeowook kissing Henry’s shoulders and lazily fucking her with her fingers. For the first time in forever, there was a different mouth on her breasts, different fingers sliding in beside Ryeowook’s and Henry nearly came right then, sandwiched between them.

“You’ll like this,” Ryeowook said, and tugged down on Jongwoon’s underwear. His cock, the head already glistening, stood hard, and as Henry measured with her eyes, longer than either of them had been.

“Oh,” Henry said, and Jongwoon looked both pleased and a hint flustered, though not for long as they both began stroking him.

“Who gets this first?” Ryeowook asked.

Henry weighed her options. Sure, she’d been looking forward to it, and yes, Ryeowook obviously had the advantage of past experience, but there wasn’t any rush. And Ryeowook getting reacquainted with it meant that Henry could live vicariously through her, could enjoy a little more before getting overwhelmed with sensations.

And she could watch.

“Age before…lesser age,” Henry said when Ryeowook narrowed her eyes at her. But she didn’t get a complaint. The lace slithered down Ryeowook’s legs, and she was pretty sure both she and Jongwoon moaned watching. Condoms had been stashed discreetly in locations about near any flat surface, but even more near the bed, and that’s where Ryeowook planted him, climbing into his lap and kissing him as they ground together. It was Henry who opened the condom, and Henry who rolled it on, who held it steady until Ryeowook began to press down around it. Henry watched Jongwoon’s face, chuckling because she knew how amazing that Ryeowook was and how good she felt. And Henry didn’t feel left out at all, pressing against Ryeowook’s back and kissing her neck and grinding against her ass as Ryeowook began to move. It was almost like they were fucking him in tandem, Ryeowook moaning and steadying herself on Jongwoon’s shoulders.

“Feels good?” Henry asked, and Ryeowook keened, because apparently it felt just that good.

Henry kissed Jongwoon over Ryeowook’s shoulder, moving to the side to get better access so that Ryeowook could continue taking him deep. And that gave her a better vantage point yet, stroking against Jongwoon’s chest and trying not to touch herself. Ryeowook cooed, sliding up and down Jongwoon’s cock as he rolled her nipples, and Henry watched in fascination as Ryeowook took all of Jongwoon’s cock. It looked so sexy disappearing into her and she decided right then they needed to get a toy that she could watch Ryeowook ride whenever Ryeowook was willing. Watch and help out, of course.

The Ryeowook that met her eyes was a Ryeowook in her glory, humming and pulling Henry in to kiss her as she moved on Jongwoon’s cock.

“I want to taste you,” Ryeowook moaned. And apparently one person wasn’t enough for her. “Go sit on the chair. Please.”

Henry slipped off the bed, hissing at the cool of the chair as she kept her hips scooted to the edge. She wasn’t the only one put out, as Jongwoon groaned as Ryeowook climbed off of him, all bowlegged and hot as she waved him along behind and threw a pillow down before she stroked up Henry’s thighs.

Henry was gasping way before Jongwoon got down from the bed, Ryeowook’s tongue inside of her and her hips wiggling in both enjoyment and invitation. And Ryeowook moaned against her when Jongwoon knelt and gripped her hips and slid right back into her. All Henry could do was grin, so far past content to be eaten out by her girlfriend while their other friend was fucking her girlfriend silly. An orgasm shivered through her, timed to Ryeowook’s moans and Ryeowook knew it, her eyes sweet. But Henry’s eyes widened when Ryeowook turned her head and kissed Jongwoon.

“Doesn’t she taste good. You’re great at sucking cock, but how good are you with something different,” Ryeowook said, stroking Henry’s thigh as Jongwoon’s gaze zeroed in between her legs.

Henry thought she had died and gone to heaven, trying to get her legs wide enough to fit both Ryeowook and Jongwoon bending over her. Ryeowook had no reason to be polite, her tongue sliding against Henry’s clit and sliding three fingers into her. But she ceded her place, kissing Henry’s thigh as Jongwoon began to worry at her clit, never stopping fucking Ryeowook as he proved he’d definitely pleased a woman before. Henry moaned, high on hearing Jongwoon and Ryeowook’s hips slapping together, on Ryeowook’s fingers both tangled with hers and moving inside of her. And she moaned, shaking as she came against Jongwoon’s tongue until she was too sensitive to bear it, pressing his head back and squeezing around Ryewook’s fingers.

“That was a good one. Now, my turn,” Ryeowook said, bracing herself on the chair seat and arching her back and fucking back against Jongwoon. He was all braced behind her, his breath coming in short bursts as he reached beneath her and panted into her neck.

Ryeowook squealed against her belly, coming from Jongwoon’s cock and whatever Jongwoon was doing to her clit. And Jongwoon looked like he’d been smacked over the head, trying to keep moving as Ryeowook moaned. Henry knew firsthand how tight Ryeowook got when she came, so it was no surprise when Jongwoon moaned and came for Ryeowook like she’d demanded it of him.

And maybe she had, but fuck, watching them both come was enough to make her want to squirm.

“You’re in for a treat as soon as he gets hard again,” Ryeowook said, and she only grinned harder as Jongwoon moaned, still inside her. Henry didn’t think there was going to be a dull moment in between.

***

**Prompt:** to commemorate qian's bday: Miqian happily-married AU where qian surprised Mi with baby news on a surprise bday date that Mi'd arranged for them? so double surprise! :DDDD /shippityshipships thanks a lot coleycoley! (p/s: long time no prompt you, i kinda miss reading your writing ;) /poohbear hugs) 

***

She’d planned on making dinner, or at least ordering in, but Zhou Mi had been what Song Qian liked to call “obviously sneaky” by texting her not to plan anything for dinner. That usually meant that he was bringing something home, which was fine with her, except that it had been followed up with a text telling her he really, really liked that red shirt. Which meant that they were going out, because he wouldn’t have cared what she was wearing if she was staying in. Except maybe how little she was wearing. So she was dressed, hair done and makeup done as well when he texted that she should come down when he was ready.

He stood up straighter, shocked when she appeared beside him less than four minutes later.

“You’re very obvious,” she told him, kissing his cheek. No sense feeding his delusions. “Where are we going?”

“Out,” he said, sniffing, and meaning to keep that a secret anyway. But he snuggled her in the taxi and told her about his day, and even his restaurant surprise wasn’t surprise for long because she knew exactly where they were going within a few minutes. And he knew it, too, laughing when he saw she knew.

“Happy birthday,” he told her, tugging her onto the sidewalk with him when they’d arrived.

“Speaking of that,” she said. “Before we go in. I have a gift for you, too. For us.”

“For us?”

He looked to her hands, her purse. And she took his hand, sliding it down over her belly, low, and holding it there as she looked at him.

She saw when he was about to ask her what she was talking about, and then when the realization dawned on him, and when his jaw dropped.

“Song Qian!”

“Yes,” she laughed, and reeled him right in.

“Our baby,” he breathed into her hair.

She smiled because between the two - three - of them, it was very happy birthday.

***

**Prompt:** Zhou Mi. Or Heechul. (801): You know I'm really starting to enjoy being everyones first gay experience 

***

Zhou Mi’s first sound had been a gasp, Heechul’s lips on his. But his second had been a moan, when Heechul had settled into his lap and rubbed their hips together. It made it easier to kiss, to touch, tugging at Zhou Mi’s pants and grinning at how the cloth strained. There was a small question in his mind if Zhou Mi would want, his fingers on Zhou Mi’s jaw. But he had, after assuring himself of what Heechul wanted. What Heechul was offering.

“I’d never—“

It didn’t matter. What mattered was that he wanted, that he pulled Heechul in, let Heechul wind around him, get a hand on him. And that, that Heechul knew was irresistible. One touch, another moan, and Zhou Mi’s hands tightening on him. Zhou Mi’s mouth was red and wet, and it parted further when Heechul began to stroke quicker. He kept his hand in Zhou Mi’s hair, kept his eyes on his so that he knew it was Heechul, that he wasn’t thinking of anyone else but him. No one but him, as Zhou Mi came, and smiled, and pulled Heechul in for another kiss. They’d see if he was up for seconds soon.

***

**Prompt:** Something for Mi x SHINee's cute interactions on The Show? I almost squealed from Onew punching Mi XD thank you! 

***

They saw each other backstage before the show even started, Zhou Mi slipping through and nearly losing his footing when he had an armful of Taemin. That meant, and he was correct in his assumption, that the others weren’t far behind. Kibum edged out Taemin, taking his place while Zhou Mi tried to high five the others and greet them, and tell them finally, finally they were there, too, and wasn’t it fun, and—

There wasn’t anything like people he loved showing up, talking to him until he almost forgot the time until his phone yelled at him and he had to race like a cheetah to not be late for rehearsal, and as it was he just barely squeezed in behind Hongbin.

There wasn’t anything like telling someone they had won, either. The hugs. Jinki hanging n his shoulder and beating on him. They were on his show, getting the award from his hands. His friends.

They sought him out after their encore stage, not new to winning but still so happy, and the pictures they took numbered less than the laughs, and the promises to get together soon. They all but deafened him when they left him, Minho the last one to hug him.

It wasn’t always an easy job, but he lived for moments like those.

***

**Prompt:** henyewook polyamorous relationship - fluff if it's not too much trouble! (three guesses who this is hurr XD) 

***

Jongwoon had one job. His one job was to read the instructions to Henry as they tried to recreate one of Ryeowook’s dishes, and he’d missed a step. It hadn’t been too disastrous though, just Henry yelping and trying not to let the pot boil over, and laughing into Jongwoon’s shoulder even as he beat on Jongwoon’s back a little. It was okay, he hadn’t needed that life anyway. They wouldn’t have had time to start over if it would’ve all gone wrong. As it was, Henry still had potholders on his hands and Jongwoon’s shirt was smeared with something Henry wasn’t sure they’d been cooking with, when Ryeowook walked in.

But the table was set, the candles burning brightly, food in dishes. Some of it was instant, but one of it wasn’t so it totally counted.

“What’s this!” Ryeowook exclaimed, leaning over and inhaling as he looked at their handiwork.

“It’s probably not as good as yours,” Henry apologized in advance. He shared a look with Jongwoon, who grimaced a little. Hopefully they hadn’t left out something important. Henry had tasted it and it seemed okay to him, but he ate anything. Ryeowook fed them a lot, took care of them a lot, and he just wanted Ryeowook to like it, to know they’d made an effort for him.

But Ryeowook tasted it out of the pan, made noises like it was good, and he went to Henry first, hugging him and pulling him into a kiss, before turning, pulling Jongwoon closer and leaning in as Jongwoon hugged them both. Henry watched them kiss, his heart flopping happily.

“Let’s eat!” Ryeowook said, beaming between them. They sat around the little circular table, their knees brushing underneath, and enjoyed their meal.

***

**Prompt:** henwook - size comparisons

***

“I’m taller,” Henry said, as though that had anything to do with anything. If they were going to go on arbitrary numbers like that, Ryeowook had a good response.

“Well, I’m older,” he said, and let Henry chew on that one. Older, more experience, maybe. Life experience at the very least, though Henry didn’t need to be privy to any such experience or lack thereof.

“So maybe the one with the bigger dick with top. So, that’d be me, then,” Henry said, with easy confidence that had Ryeowook’s eyebrows rising.

“Do you think so? How do you know? And don’t say it’s because you’re taller.”

“I just…figured,” Henry floundered, and Ryeowook thought probably it was along those lines.

“I think I’m bigger,” Ryeowook said, smug when Henry looked offended.

“Maybe you should prove it.”

“Get ready, then.”

There wasn’t much to be proven, when soft, though Ryeowook had a good feeling even then. He could see Henry glancing at him as they both worked to get themselves hard. Henry didn’t have anything to be ashamed of, that was for sure, but there was the simple fact that—

“Wow, you’re fucking hung,” Henry breathed.

Ryeowook was proud. His body was proud.

“Does that mean you want it?” Ryeowook asked, waggling it at him.

Since by Henry’s logic, Ryeowook was the top and all.

Ryeowook didn’t get a response, so much as he got ambushed. Apparently the answer was yes.

***

**Prompt:** Can I ask for KyuChul frottage? 

***

It was so slick, it felt so good rubbing together, Kyuhyun’s lips smarting from kisses, skin smarting in places from the drag of Heechul’s nails and the scrape of his teeth. He half expected Heechul to push him down, to ask for something else, but all he did was moan, working his hips with Kyuhyun’s, sliding down Kyuhyun’s skin to grip, to pull him closer, to growl into his neck and make Kyuhyun shudder as the friction increased. His hips moved almost on their own, jerking, his muscles tight, surrounded by Heechul’s scent, driven by his demands.

Kyuhyun’s eyes widened, knowing that moan, knowing the way Heechul’s head fell back, and his body tightened. He couldn’t see and still he knew, feeling Heechul coming against him, feeling it, sticky, feeling himself ache, and throb, and rocking faster before Heechul demanded that he stop, needing so badly, his moans almost stuttering out of him as Heechul’s fingers dug into his skin and almost demanded. He came like that, rubbing, sliding against Heechul’s body, his come falling, dripping with Heechul’s.

He let himself sag, let Heechul’s body cradle his as he tried to breathe, trying to get ahold himself, at least as long as Heechul let him.

***

**Prompt:** Since Zhou Mi basically suggested this has happened: MiChul drunk kissing? 

***

Alcohol just changed things, a little. Made things softer. Made things more possible. It wasn’t the first time, even if the first time had seemed more of a joke, a brush of lips, a tease. But not then. Heechul needed something. Contact, maybe. He pulled on Zhou Mi’s hair a little too hard, and in that moment, Zhou Mi liked it, accepting Heechul’s demand, pressing their lips together. Heechul reeled him in until Zhou Mi had him pinned against the wall, was nearly hold Heechul up. They kissed, damp sounds, Heechul’s moans, Zhou Mi’s inhale of surprise as Heechul bit at his lip and soothed him with his tongue.

And when Heechul asked, he parted his lips, humming, kissing Heechul back, listening to Heechul’s growls as he almost tried to pull Zhou Mi into him. Maybe they kissed for hours, or days. One kiss. Twenty. Connected, pressed together.

“Want to go to bed,” Heechul said against Zhou Mi’s mouth, and Zhou Mi nodded, kissing him.

They got Heechul onto the mattress together, two sets of hands tugging at the blanket, and Zhou Mi smiled at Heechul, already deflating into sleep with the settling of the blanket over him. Zhou Mi found his own bed, and his own rest.

***

**Prompt:** Prompt: Zhou Mi thinks his tiny boyfriend is the best thing that ever happened to him. Xiumin is sweet, affectionate and incredibly cute. But when Zhou Mi finally gets him in bed, it turns out they both had different ideas on who'd be topping who. (ft unexpected top!XM)

***

They’d been working up to it, almost too slowly if the speed with which they’d stripped was an indication. They’d made out for an hour the last time Minseok had been over, before Zhou Mi had opened Minseok’s pants and sucked him off to both their satisfaction. But not that night. Minseok nearly pushed him onto the bed, kissing him as Zhou Mi got his hands all over Minseok’s body. He couldn’t wait to sink himself into Minseok, feel him squirm and moan, and watch him come. Minseok was so hard, and he got his hand slick, moaning as Minseok did the same, stroking each other as they kissed, as Zhou Mi half hovered over Minseok, and Minseok rolled over on top of him. Zhou Mi moaned as Minseok touched him, and he moaned as Minseok pulled up his leg, his slick fingers sliding down, pressing against him - trying to press into him.

He moaned, but it wasn’t a moan to stop, Zhou Mi had to breathe at that, pressing his mouth against Minseok’s cheek as Minseok worked his fingers, insistent.

“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about fucking you,” Minseok said. “You’re so tight. You like that?”

Zhou Mi nodded like his head was on a string, his brain breaking down by the slick slide of Minseok’s fingers. Okay, he was completely on board with that, too. As long as he had Minseok, any part of Minseok, that was all he needed.

“Thought about— Oh. Getting inside you, too,” Zhou Mi almost gasped, Minseok devastating him, stroking him inside and out and nearly making his head spin.

“Next time?” Minseok offered. He could live with that. He pulled Minseok’s head closer, kissing him as Minseok slid into him, lifting his hips for more, to get Minseok deeper. He grasped as Minseok’s back, fastened his mouth against Minseok’s neck and raced together with him, what they’d been waiting for.

“Don’t…wait,” Zhou Mi groaned, and shuddered as Minseok’s fingers squeezed around him, gasping, Minseok’s hips snapping.

He had a man made of jelly on top of him after Minseok collapsed, but he squeezed Minseok a little tighter.

***

**Prompt:** Kyu runs into his ex boyfriend on an airplane and he's with his new husband Changmin (from tumblr) Coley 

***

Changmin was making sarcastic comments about their frantic trip to the airport - not his fault, thank you - to make Kyuhyun laugh as they made their way to their seats. There was no rush, the line slow as people got things into overhead bins. It was nice to not have to rush. They were going home, just laptop bags and a little bag of snacks between them, and Changmin was planning on a hefty nap as soon as he wouldn’t be glared at by staff.

“Kyuhyun?”

As soon as Kyuhyun had replied to a joke, a man had turned a few seats up, looking back at them - at Kyuhyun. A friend, Changmin thought at first.

“Oh. Hi!” Kyuhyun’s greeting was surprised. “It’s. It’s been a while.”

“Almost a year! What have you been up to?”

But Kyuhyun’s words were stumbled, a little more awkward than he was with friends. And he startled as they walked another row closer as people in front of them moved.

“Oh, I wanted to introduce you. This is my husband, Changmin.”

The greeting was not impolite, but considerably cooler. He suspected not just because he was a stranger. The row opened in front of them, and Changmin could almost feel Kyuhyun relax.

“Well, we have to— I’m glad you’ve been well,” Kyuhyun said, as Changmin put a hand on his back and walked forward with him so they could find their seats.

“An ex,” Kyuhyun breathed, as though Changmin didn’t have to eyes and ears. “The one— I’ll remind you later.”

Changmin wasn’t sure that he needed the reminder, but he felt a bit like a guarding lion, staying awake as Kyuhyun napped against his shoulder. Kyuhyun’s sleepy eyes when he woke up made him smile.

***

**Prompt:** Hyukmi (in light of recent huggles pics fm dream team recording. DAWHHH. Moving on) in which hyuk regrets teaching Mi korean bcs now Mi can always pointedly use his height against him whenever they bicker xD 

***

“Where is Hyukjae, though, I can’t see him,” Zhou Mi said, peering seriously around as though perplexed that Hyukjae had disappeared. “Is he down somewhere…. Oh! Way down there!”

“Zhou Mi!”

Hyukjae was outraged. Outraged and laughing and even more outraged by Zhou Mi being completely amused.

“You taught me~” Zhou Mi almost sang, at least not reaching out to pat Hyukjae on the head like he had once. That had ended in a wrestling match and them buying each other drinks afterward.

“I did not teach you to say that!” Hyukjae argued, as Zhou Mi pretended he was floating through life on some kind of cloud.

“You taught me something,” Zhou Mi teased. “Oh, Zhou Mi, you say it this way, no one will understand you.”

“I don’t need to hear this.”

“Oh?”

Zhou Mi just started talking in every other language he knew, flitting between English, Cantonese, settling into Mandarin as he picked at the shoulder of Hyukjae’s shirt and then sidled over so he could slide his arm around Hyukjae’s shoulders.

Hyukjae squinted up at him.

“Did you just call me your little friend?”

“That’s good!” Zhou Mi enthused, and squawked as Hyukjae pinched his side, tickling him as they walked.

***

**Prompt:** Jiyeon and Hongbin fighting for Mi's attention backstage during The Show? Please and thank you （≧∇≦） 

***

Zhou Mi chortled at everything, giving him a chance to laugh was almost as easy as breathing. He waved to people, chatted with staff, ran after the water guy to give him something he dropped. He fanned himself with his script, and stayed still have makeup applied while then also attempting to talk and not get an eye poked out.

They didn’t fight in the most obvious way. There was no shoving, no glares, no trying to lock each other in a closet, or misdirect down some haunted hallway. Zhou Mi was just the best thing about being backstage, maybe besides when other friends were there. Hongbin forgot to be nervous around Zhou Mi - except for when he’d been nervous around everything to start - but Zhou Mi’s laugh seemed to dispel that. Zhou Mi didn’t tease if Hongbin expressed a concern, and if there was a tease it was half directed at himself because they’d both bailed him out of his own moments. And to Jiyeon he was just so supportive and interested, doling out compliments that she really believed, and complimenting her fans as well. Basically he treated her like a friend, and was a friend, when she had no idea how they’d get along when they’d first met even though she’d heard some good things about him.

So they kind of elbowed in a little bit. But luckily, he had enough of himself to share with both of them.

***

**Prompt:** I'd really love some Zhou Mi/Heechul. Maybe something about why Heechul hasn't kissed Zhou Mi in public?

***

The others, they were a show. A shock factor, a titillation. Also pushing boundaries to see how far was too far before people started pushing back. There was some complaint, most just chalked it up to exhibition. Some actually questioned Heechul’s sexuality, others thought he’d just do anything for attention.

But some people just didn’t care. That was the best part. A kiss being a kiss. Sure, sometimes the extreme reactions were fun, too. But the quiet was a certain kind of hope.

But there wasn’t anyone to see some of the kisses. There were no rehearsals, no audience.

Zhou Mi came in with a bundle of energy, hanging up from a call, shedding his jacket. Zhou Mi liked hugging, getting all close, annoying Heechul with his height and saying hello. Sometimes more than once, Zhou Mi’s lips against his, kissing him, stroking patterns on his neck with his fingers.

Zhou Mi laughed his head off with each kiss on stage, practice or not. They waggled their eyebrows at each other about it backstage, teasing. Zhou Mi never had to ask why they never kissed on stage, why Heechul didn’t just go up to him and lay one on him.

The others were pretend. Theirs were real.

***

**Prompt:** hyukmi enjoying some well deserved time off by watching a movie together only to be more interested in each other than the movie~ 

***

The movie was good, actually. It was interesting, full of chases, and explosions, and witty dialogue. They’d both agreed on it when they started watching, so it wasn’t as though one of them wasn’t invested. Still, it was Hyukjae who started shifting first, leaning a little harder into Zhou Mi’s shoulder, rubbing against his arm and distracting him.

“Did you need your drink?” Zhou Mi whispered, and gasped a little as Hyukjae’s lips pressed against his neck.

“Yeah, I need a drink,” Hyukjae said.

Zhou Mi kissed him back, humming for him as Hyukjae rubbed against his chest and got a leg over his thigh. Yes, that, as Zhou Mi reached out and rubbed against his side. He half thought to pause the movie, but that would’ve meant letting go, taking his mouth away from Zhou Mi’s, and no, no that wasn’t happening. Zhou Mi stroked along his jaw, sucking at his lip, moaning a little at the pinch of Hyukjae’s fingers.

And he gave up, breaking the kiss for a half second to turn off the TV and face Zhou Mi fully. That was better, his arms around Zhou Mi’s neck, Zhou Mi squeezing his butt. Zhou Mi didn’t seem too distraught to have the movie interrupted, and neither was he.

***

**Prompt:** hyukmi with hyukjae getting revenge on mi for the short comment on the dream team? preferably punishment with that mouth of his hehe... 

***

Zhou Mi actually wheezed. They’d come back in the clothes they’d changed back into, which was fine. Zhou Mi shed his pants at the drop of a hat anyway. It had only taken a quick touch to get a handful through the front of Zhou Mi’s underwear to stroke and fondle. The cloth was lime green, bright against his hand, and he knew how it would darken when it was wet.

But the taste of cotton against his tongue wasn’t what he was looking for, as delightful as it was to make Zhou Mi squirm like that. He stripped down the cloth, and Zhou Mi sat for him, watching him, letting his legs fall wide as he slouched and offered Hyukjae everything. He was taller then, for a second, until he knelt and nipped his way down Zhou Mi’s belly.

He’d promised on the way home that Zhou Mi should watch out.

“Hyukjae,” Zhou Mi moaned, as Hyukjae’s tongue swirled against him. Tired from filming, but not too tired. Almost never too tired. He remembered the sleepy touches, waking up all flaky and gross. But pleased. He began to suck to the tune of that thought. Yes, very pleased. With Zhou Mi fighting to be quiet, and Hyukjae half wishing he could break his control. But not then. No, Zhou Mi could moan as loud as he wanted, and Hyukjae could hum around him and make him throb and string him on for as long as he wanted. As long as his jaw wanted, anyway, or his lips with how they stretched and sealed and dragged.

He knew how sensitive Zhou Mi was, how the flicker of a tongue could undo him, how he could be stoic, wild, desperate. He wished he had lube, so he could tease Zhou Mi inside, too, but pressing seemed to do half the work with Zhou Mi’s head thrashing, his hips tensing.

“Hyukjae!” Zhou Mi got out on tense voice, his resolve shaking.

Yes. Yes. Hyukjae sucked in time with his pressing fingers until Zhou Mi moaned for him, and gave him his reward.

***

**Prompt:** I would like to request some heechul/zhou mi, please.

***

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

This went on for a good two minutes, and Zhou Mi nearly choked on his coffee trying to swallow fast enough to be able keep up the rhythm.

Heechul’s lips twitched but he didn’t smile, and Zhou Mi was trying to steel his face.

And it just. It continued.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

Deep voices, high voices, in between. A laugh was caught on a cough, a swallow, and he tried winking, making his eyes go wide, and it was like trying to get a robot to respond. A robot who was poking at his legs under the stable.

Which was cheating, and—

Zhou Mi yelped, twisting away from a smack on his thigh and his “Hey!” then wasn’t part of the game as much as it was an indignant squawk. It was followed by his own laughter, and then of course Heechul cracked, settling back confident in his winning.

“That’s cheating!”

“What were the rules again?” Heechul asked.

What was the penalty even? They didn’t have one. It was just for fun, and anyone who saw them play it thought they were ridiculous.

“Now we never have to greet each other again,” Heechul said.

Zhou Mi didn’t have to stop himself then, throwing back his head and laughing.

***

**Prompt:** Henwook dealing with anti Henry hate 

***

There were a number of ways that they dealt with things. Turning off their phones was one of them, but that only could go on so long. Plus they had other people getting angry at them. Blocking, not looking, instructing people not to tell them when people were being horrible, they all had their place.

Ryeowook favored a sort of drastic method of printing off nasty things in general and cutting them into strips that he then decorated in frowny faces and various piles of poop complete with wafting smells.

This made Henry laugh, and had the intended side effect also of making the text nearly unreadable.

But what came after was usually better, since they burned the strips one by one in a little bit of viciousness.

“Ahh, there go your words, hope someone doesn’t see them and punish you. Ah, that would be too bad.”

Henry always laughed at that, basking in the warmth of the fire and getting enjoyment out of it. Ryeowook had always remembered him, stood by him, mentioned him.

Though really, sometimes they thing that gave them the most satisfaction was ignoring things altogether. People screamed into the void, and eventually their voice would give, they had no doubt of that.

***


	2. Fins!Henwook

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> mermaid!AU Henwook based on [Fins](http://coley-merrin.livejournal.com/436046.html), a qmi fic. Can be read as a standalone~ Henry meets Ryeowook, a merman. Includes smut.

***

Henry had almost drowned, once. And he didn’t count the time in the pool when he’s slipped back on a floaty thing and thought he was just going to tip over backwards and end up upside down. No, he’d gotten caught on a current, swept out so far, so fast, that the more he swam toward land once he’d been in the calm, the further it seemed he got. Water slammed against his back, and he was driven down, down. His arms shook, his legs aching as he tried to tread water, tried to keep his lungs inflated even as his whole body hurt.

He’d been close to the point of wondering if he could just rest if he sank, just a little. If he just stopped moving. Down to his chin, his ears.

And someone took his hand.

It shocked him out of his lethargy, treading water faster as he stared around for whoever was holding his hand. The fingers around his were cool, and a dark-haired head lifted out of the water. He hadn’t seen anyone swimming. Maybe they were just as screwed as he was.

“You’re tired,” a light voice told him. “Were you carried out this far?”

“I’ve been trying to swim back,” Henry said, desperate. “Is it far?”

“For you. Come with me.”

“I’ll drag you down,” Henry warned.

“Come with me.”

Henry got his arms around the man’s neck from behind, pressed his cheek against slick, cool skin. Henry didn’t know how the man swam with him like that, all he could feel was an undulation, no kicks, no strokes. Water splashed against his face and he didn’t care, inhaling, again, again, not even daring to look at how far they were away.

Henry didn’t know what to do, when his toes dragged sand, when the man rolled and let him free. Henry fell to his knees, struggling up, struggling forward until the water was rushing in at his waist, and he stared, amazed that he was at the beach again. He turned, and the man was there, arms moving in the water, watching to make sure Henry was okay.

“Thank you!” he blurted, amazed. He’d have died. He’d been close to giving up.

Henry got no more than a smile, and the man turned, dove, swimming away.

Disappearing with the flick of a fin above the surface.

***

Most of the stuff Henry saw in the ocean was just junk. Bits of seaweed, the occasional crab, a floating boot, or some driftwood. His eyes caught on shining ripples of water sometimes, just wondering. Maybe there was a guy out there in a merman suit. Maybe there was something completely unexpected out there. Henry just knew that it had taken him several days to recover at home from his ordeal, and he’d spent hours the days after that walking on the edge of the sand and just hoping for an answer. Maybe he’d been delirious.

But his sandwich was delicious at least, dangling his feet off the end of a dock and letting his feet dangle in the water. Eddies swirled around his feet, and a bottle floated past before he snagged it, to take back up to the recycle bin.

He thought the glimmer was another piece of trash at first, but it was—

It was a person, and Henry lifted his legs, ready to shout in alarm or warn the guy off. But he knew that face.

“It’s you,” Henry said, staring.

“I wanted to see if you were all right.”

The voice was so lovely that Henry had to keep from leaning closer.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Thanks to you. What’s your name?”

The man considered him, tilting his head. “Ryeowook. You can call me that. And you are?”

“Henry.”

“Henry,” Ryeowook repeated, and he lifted his hands, resting them just above Henry’s knees. They were cool, like the water was cool though they were faintly warmed the longer they were on Henry’s skin, webbed between the fingers. Ryeowook watched him looking, and Henry put his hands just above Ryeowook’s on his shorts. His hands were tanned from the summer sun, darker, dry.

“How similar we are,” Ryeowook said, even as Henry was thinking of how different they were. “Henry?”

“Yeah?”

A sound had both of them jolting.

“Wait,” Henry said, but Ryeowook had slipped away, leaving nothing more than ripple in the water. It was just an empty can rattling on the pier. He waited an hour longer, staring down into the water, but Ryeowook didn’t come back.

***

Henry had to invest in more sunblock, getting a nasty sunburn just hanging around all day one day, waiting for people to go away. He’d also almost dozed off on the dock one night, wondering if maybe Ryeowook preferred nighttime. Though since that didn’t work even after several nights, he figured perhaps mer…people weren’t nocturnal. It was weird to think of it like that. Or maybe Ryeowook had just moved on. He maybe had dozens places to be, and Henry with his lack of self-preservation was just an incidental stop. Maybe Ryeowook had wanted to see if he was okay, and that was all he needed. Maybe.

It was daytime, the next time that Henry went out. It had been cloudy, and Henry was there for an hour before it started sprinkling. He let his feet dip in the water, eating the sandwich he’d brought, and that was when the sky opened up.

He could run for it. He’d still be soaked, though. He figured he might as well say a while longer, just in case, leaning over and watching the rain make swirls and circles in the water as the tide continued in. Henry swiped at his nose, soaked to the skin by the time the rain let up even a little, but the beach was deserted, and the docks as well. If he just waited a little longer.

There was something moving under the water. Not driftwood—

Ryeowook’s head lifted, and Henry gasped.

“I was wondering if you’d be back!”

“Are you okay?” Ryeowook asked, his hands sliding onto Henry’s knees. And he almost pulled back. “You’re cold!”

“I was waiting for you. I thought maybe since the others were gone, maybe you’d show up. Have you seen me here?”

“I haven’t been near this place since the last time we spoke,” Ryeowook said. “You should not be so cold.”

“I’ll go back soon,” Henry said, and swallowed around the tickle in his throat. “Where have you been?”

“Places you could not go, beneath the water. I search for a home. I thought of you, though, and I thought— You were here.”

Henry nodded, glad, shivering. “So if you go today, you won’t be back for a while.”

“It is far to swim. But you can’t sit out here like this. You’re not meant to linger in this wet.”

“Then we should have a sign. Something for me to know you’re here?”

Ryeowook nodded, his hands leaching warmth into Henry’s skin. “I will bring a piece of seaweed, and tie it around this upright post. Whether people are around, it does not matter. As long as most of me is beneath the water, they will see what they expect. Go. I promise to return before the moon turns.”

Henry touched Ryeowook’s hand, finally going with stiff limbs. Ryeowook had promised. Henry sat in a heated shower for almost 45 minutes, and slept, deep and restless of scales shimmering in the water.

***

Henry saw the seaweed, and he prepared himself to sit and wait. He opted for the beach nearest the dock, knowing he could go out if he saw Ryeowook was there. But the day wore on, and no Ryeowook showed up, no matter how Henry walked beach and forth or waded out as far as his knees. He made a pit stop back where he was staying, returning with more food, and to a deserted beach as the sun dipped even lower down below the horizon. He sang toward it, half humming, half singing words, amusing himself as he kept his eyes on the water.

There was a splash, one that wasn’t from the tide, and Henry stood up, wading out and seeing Ryeowook surface just beyond him.

“You made it,” Henry said. “I saw the sign you left. How have you been?”

“I’ve been well,” Ryeowook said. “You are feeling better?”

“I wasn’t very sick,” Henry said, grinning, and flapping his arms a bit.

“I heard you singing. Is it a sad song?”

“Not really?” Henry sang a bit more of it so that Ryeowook could hear, and when he repeated the part he’d been singing before, Ryeowook joined in, his voice surprising as Henry blinked but kept singing, hearing Ryeowook begin to harmonize. That voice. Henry walked without realizing, needing to be closer, needing to wrap himself in that feeling, wading to his knees, his hips, shivering in the water as it lapped higher.

“Oh!” Ryeowook said, as Henry almost stumbled, nearly face to face with Ryeowook. “Oh, I’m sorry!”

Henry blinked, shaking his head, hissing as he realized the cold swirling around his body. He’d just started walking.

“That was my fault,” Ryeowook said. “I forgot. Humans, they are drawn to us when we sing. It’s a certain kind of magic.”

“Magic,” Henry repeated, with some amount of skepticism. He was standing in front of a merman, so he wasn’t sure why magic was so hard to believe.

“Yes,” Ryeowook confirmed. And he cupped Henry’s cheek with hand, singing only a couple of lines, and Henry leaned in, like he was compelled, his mind filled with nothing but Ryeowook’s song, and Ryeowook’s touch. And Ryeowook repeated, “Magic.”

“Wow,” Henry said, searching Ryeowook’s face. His hand was warm, when Henry’s slid over it, holding onto it when Ryeowook lowered it. Ryeowook’s fingers curled around his, and he smiled, as though pleased that Henry wasn’t angry at him. “Can you do any other kind of magic?”

Ryeowook considered. “I can swim,” he said, cheeky with it, and Henry laughed.

“Maybe you’ll have to teach me, since I had such a hard time.”

“Maybe next time we will swim. When the sun is high,” Ryeowook said. “Go, be warm.”

Henry didn’t feel cold again, not until he got out of the water, and then his legs felt heavy like he’d soaked in water somehow. But when he turned around from picking up his things, all he saw was water, Ryeowook already gone into the sea.

***

It was another week, Henry peeking out, talking little walks when he could, blinking and almost staring when he saw the band of seaweed around the wood. He considered running for home for supplies, but decided to wander toward the beach. It was midday, and there were people out, but if he got too tired, he could go back for food. But his sandals had barely edged the water, when Ryeowook’s head lifted up, his lips curved as water sluiced down.

“It’s early in the day,” Henry said, glancing around him. No one was paying any attention, as Ryeowook predicted.

“Want to swim?” Ryeowook asked. “I can take us to a place no one can see.”

Henry didn’t hesitate, tucking his sandals up under the dock since they were cheap, and wading out so that Ryeowook could reach for him, turning and pulling Henry’s arms over his shoulders.

“Hold on,” Ryeowook said. “And breathe deep when you can.”

Henry wasn’t sure what it looked like, him being towed along by someone. But once they were out far enough, it didn’t matter, Ryeowook pulling him along the shore, in general keeping him above the water but he had to gasp for air a few times. Still, he wasn’t chilled by the time Ryeowook stopped, letting him go so he could tread water.

“Do you normally swim near the surface?”

Ryeowook shook his head, the sun glinting off of his hair. “Too many boats near the shore, too many people. But it’s safe here. I’d feel a boat in the water long before we could see it.”

That was good. It let him relax a little, taking a few strokes back and forth to limber up, rolling his shoulders and not caring how ridiculous he looked.

“Want to race?”

Maybe it was arrogance. But Ryeowook seemed so slight, and Henry had always been a decent swimmer. Ryeowook looked out beyond them.

“To that seaweed?” Ryeowook suggested, pointed at a floating glob of it some thirty feet out.

“Okay! Ready? Go!”

Henry kicked, and breathed, and grunted, and drive himself hard, and when he was halfway there, he blinked the salt out of his eyes, and saw Ryeowook already floating beyond it. He stopped, sputtering as Ryeowook laughed at him.

“Hey!”

“I’m made for swimming,” Ryeowook reminded him, swimming a lap around him with apparent ease.

“Let’s try again.”

Foolish, but it made him laugh. Ryeowook turned onto his back, flicking his fin and swimming sloppily so that even a crab could’ve beaten him. And then, when Henry sputtered, he did it again.

“You don’t have to let me win!” Henry said, outraged, bedraggled, wet. And Ryeowook laughed, swimming up to him and wrapping his arms around Henry’s neck.

“Henry,” Ryeowook said, and they seemed to swirl in the water, driven by Ryeowook’s fin keeping them afloat.

“You don’t have to laugh,” Henry muttered, but he wrapped his arms around Ryeowook. He took a breath just before they sank below the surface, and Henry ran his fingers along the fin on Ryeowook’s lower back, hearing the sound Ryeowook made, hollow in the water, and watching bubbles rise to the surface.

***

Henry saw the seaweed, and threw his belongings in his door, locking it and wading straight into the water. There was no need to wait, and he was treading water when he felt a swirl around his ankles, Ryeowook lifting nose-high out of the water right in front of him. It had been five days, so soon that Henry’s muscles had barely recovered from their last swimming expedition, and he couldn’t help grinning as Ryeowook’s hair dripped down over his forehead, onto his face.

“Couldn’t wait for a rematch?” he asked, and Ryeowook laughed at him, bubbles rising to the surface just before Ryeowook lifted himself the rest of the way.

“Have you learned to swim faster while I was away?” Ryeowook asked, sounding far too disbelieving, laughing as Henry pouted at him.

“I’m not the one who has— You know,” Henry said, looking furtively around like someone was going to hear him reference Ryeowook’s anatomy. “Do you have time to go back that way, though?”

Ryeowook nodded, taking his hand, guiding him to hold on to his neck. It still surprised him, the power that Ryeowook swam with. It made him want to get up on Ryeowook’s back like he was in some water part and howl.

And then he’d probably fall off, and Ryeowook would have to fish him out.

“What do you eat, anyway?” Henry asked, when they were safe to stop, a little outcropping of rocks nearby that Henry could imagine sitting on when he got tired of floating in the waves.

“I live in the ocean,” Ryeowook said. “What do you think?”

“Fish?” Henry surmised, and gasped and grinned at him. “Okay, so that makes sense. I like fish. Does that make you like half cannibal, though?”

“Cannibal?”

Henry explained. And prepared to swim for safety. Of course, that was like trying to outrun light, staggering and falling onto the sand, gasping with laughter as Ryeowook slapped against his back. The water rushed over them and Henry sputtered, crawling up another foot and as the water drew back, Ryeowook was beside him. There was his torso, perfectly formed, and beneath it the give of flesh, the start of scales, shimmering green-gold and trailing down to a fin that was beautiful, translucent.

“Can I…?” Henry asked, and Ryeowook guided Henry’s hand, let him run his fingers against the scales. It was like a fish but not quite, like he could feel what was faintly warm and alive beneath it. It didn’t feel weird, to stroke over what seemed equal to Ryeowook’s hip, and Henry half sat up as the water rushed over them again. “That’s amazing.”

“There are so few of us now. I search for them. I’ve never been along in my life until now.”

“At least you have some clumsy land-walker to visit?” Henry said. “Who makes you feel good about your swimming.”

Ryeowook nodded, and Henry stroked along Ryeowook’s side, the feeling of his skin, even slick, more familiar.

“Are you ticklish?”

“Henry, no!”

It was a shriek, and a struggle, Ryeowook stronger than he looked, rolling Henry over, laughing as Henry tried to tickle him, as Henry gurgled as another wave swept over them. Henry ended up with his knees in the sand, coughing and laughing at the same time, Ryeowook’s body solid between his thighs. Ryeowook was smeared with sand, but he had joy all over his face, water again rushing up, covering him, making him shimmer like a painting under the water before it pulled out and left them both bare. The way Ryeowook looked at him—

“Henry?”

Henry’s fingers felt clumsy as he touched Ryeowook’s chin, touching the lower curve of Ryeowook’s bottom lip as Ryeowook touched Henry’s forearm.

The water swirled over Ryeowook again, and instead of breaking that moment, it drew him in, his palm cupping Ryeowook’s cheek and feeling Ryeowook breathe beneath him. His hair was dripping into Ryeowook’s face, and to Ryeowook, it was nothing, tilting his head, lifting to meet Henry’s kiss. The sand was always shifting, the water rushing in, but Ryeowook was steady, his hand stroking over Henry’s hair even as Henry had to lift his head to wait for the water to rush back out. It was Ryeowook who pulled him back, kissed him again. He smelled like the ocean, his lips warming under Henry’s, sweet sounds that sent shivers over Henry’s skin.

Ryeowook’s hand met Henry’s waistband, sliding up under his loose shirt, his fingers sliding against Henry’s lower spine as though searching for something, as though trying to tell him something.

“Henry.”

He wondered if that was why Ryeowook came back, if he’d stood out to Ryeowook was much as Ryeowook had to him. He didn’t want to go back, Ryeowook nestling against his side, stroking his skin and talking to him as the water swirled around them. But the tide was turning, the sun setting, and Henry was the one who did the rescuing, tugging Ryeowook out the few feet it took for him to be able to orient himself in the water.

“When will I see you again?” Henry asked, standing on wobbling legs as Ryeowook let him down near the dock.

“Soon,” Ryeowook said.

He pressed his fingertips to Henry’s, a promise, and slipped away into the water, until only the dying gleam of the sun remained.

***

Ryeowook surfaced when Henry had barely started wading in once he saw the seaweed. Henry couldn’t help himself, reaching to touch Ryeowook’s shoulder and almost assure himself that Ryeowook was there. It had been three days, and had felt like weeks as he wrapped his arms around Ryeowook’s neck.

“I have a surprise for you!” Ryeowook said.

“Cool!” Henry said against Ryeowook’s neck and felt him laugh as Ryeowook began to swim him away. It was probably harder, keeping them both above the surface, but Ryeowook swam with ease. Ryeowook took him to the same place, the place they’d kissed, but instead of taking Henry to the sand, he stopped by an outcropping, helping to boost Henry onto it. Maybe he just wanted to cop a feel, but Ryeowook looked so pleased.

“Wait here,” Ryeowook said.

Ah, his surprise. Henry sat on the rocks, moving his legs and waiting for Ryeowook to return. He had no idea what Ryeowook could have for him. He wondered what a merman’s idea of a gift even was. 

Ryeowook surfaced back above the water a few minutes later. And so did a second person, and a third. Two other men, men whose faces Henry didn’t know. He could see by the color of their skin, the sheen of it, that they were like Ryeowook. Ryeowook had been looking for others, when he’d saved Henry. Even under his ocean-cool clothes, he felt a chill.

“Henry, I want you to meet Zhou Mi, and Kyuhyun. They’re like me, and they’ve been looking for others, too. This is Henry, he— He’s my friend.”

“We don’t have many human friends,” Zhou Mi said. “How did you meet?”

“Ryeowook saved me after I got washed out. I was about to drown. I didn’t realize what he was at first, though. I always thought you guys were a myth.”

“It seems saving each other is a good way to find friends,” Zhou Mi said, and Kyuhyun gurgled out a laugh. “I washed up on a beach injured, and Kyuhyun saved me from being seen on some kind of wheeled…”

“Wheelchair,” Kyuhyun supplied.

He could see the fin on Kyuhyun’s wrist where it sat on Zhou Mi’s shoulder, and he looked because something there wasn’t adding up. A guy with fins wasn’t going to be operating a wheelchair.

“How…?”

Zhou Mi and Kyuhyun looked to each other, having a conversation that was far from verbal. Or not audible, at the very least.

“I was human at the time,” Kyuhyun said finally. “It’s a long story.”

And obviously not one he was willing to relate, though Ryeowook had clearly known already, looking to Henry like it was some amazing thing. Henry didn’t have some magical powers of shapeshifting. He couldn’t grow fins and race Ryeowook properly.

“How long will you two be in the area?” Henry wondered.

“A few days, I think,” Zhou Mi said, and he smiled at Ryeowook. “We have a lot to learn, and plans to make.”

Plans. Henry sat still, listening as Ryeowook asked questions and both Zhou Mi and Kyuhyun told them stories of places they had already searched, of strange sea creatures they had seen. Ryeowook was enthralled, his hand on Henry’s knee, keeping himself still as they talked. Ryeowook prompted Henry to tell them a bit more about himself, too, but he didn’t really know what to say. He talked a little about the school he’d been to, what he was doing at the ocean, where his family was from. It felt small and insignificant, and it made him feel the same way. Maybe they wondered why Ryeowook would have brought him, why Ryeowook was wasting his time there when there were oceans to search for a scattered people.

“It was good to meet you,” Zhou Mi said, when Henry slipped back down into the water, the sun beginning to set behind them. “We can never have too many people to care for us.”

Sure, absolutely. Henry tried to smile, and half succeeded when he turned to say goodbye to Kyuhyun. Kyuhyun held out his hand, and Henry took it, prepared to shake Kyuhyun’s hand. But Kyuhyun pulled him closer, and Henry almost squeaked.

“If it’s what you want, don’t be afraid,” Kyuhyun said.

That was all he said, too, Kyuhyun letting him go and ducking down under the water, and Zhou Mi with him.

It left him alone with Ryeowook, who wrapped his arms around Henry and held him as the waves moved them.

“I know you’re cold, so we can’t stay long,” Ryeowook said, settling his hand in Henry’s lower back and nuzzling against his neck. “Isn’t it amazing, though? It’s been so long since I’ve been able to see or speak to someone like them. You’ve kept me from being lonely, but it was so good to see them.”

Ryeowook cupped Henry’s cheek, kissing him, and Henry couldn’t help himself, kissing back, holding Ryeowook, ignoring for a moment the fear, and the guilt.

The swim back seemed like it took three times as long, the spray chilling him too, but he could still feel his skin, so that was something as he got his footing next to a pier. Ryeowook’s face in the dying light was so beautiful, and Henry didn’t think that being shackled to someone on shore was his best bet at happiness.

“Are they going to keep looking?” Henry asked.

“Of course. The more we find, the more likely it is we can find a place that can sustain everyone. So that there can be families, friends again.”

It made his chest tight, the same way it had when he’d first seen Zhou Mi and Kyuhyun to begin with, when he’d realized.

“Maybe you should go with them, when they go. That way you’re not alone,” Henry said.

“Henry,” Ryeowook said, reaching for him.

But no. Henry had seen Ryeowook’s surprise, and Ryeowook’s happiness in it. He’d found others like himself, something Henry wasn’t. It wasn’t good for Ryeowook to be alone. It just wasn’t.

Henry slogged out of the water, unhappy, unsure, knowing Ryeowook had slipped away. He never realized he was being watched.

***

Henry watched. He kicked himself, saw every splotch of wet as maybe seaweed, went out and waded through the water in case maybe Ryeowook’s signal had fallen off. He hadn’t wanted Ryeowook to go, was the thing. He wanted more swim races and more of Ryeowook’s arms around him and figuring out how to really look into Ryeowook’s eyes without his face heating up. Ryeowook was fascinating and it wasn’t just because he was so different, so removed from all the typical mazes people put up that he was used to. But he’d saved Henry’s life, and every single time Ryeowook came to see him, Henry knew Ryeowook put himself in danger. There were boats, or the possibility of being spotted.

But that didn’t keep the ache away when he waded out, at first a few times a day and then less often. Days passed, and more of them, and he began to rationalize that Ryeowook had left with his friends. It was a chance for Ryeowook to be happy, to be with others like him. Maybe also a hint that Henry needed to do the same, and stop looking for something that was maybe just a stand-in for other things. He needed to get his life together. He made a pact with himself that he would only wade out if he saw Ryeowook’s sign.

And it passed the longest time between Ryeowook’s visits.

He’d went right past sadness to disgruntled, that for all the times they’d met up, the kissing, everything, and then Ryeowook just left without a goodbye.

Yeah, sure, Henry had said to go ahead and go, but Ryeowook hadn’t told him that he was going to.

And he didn’t just wade out because he was hoping Ryeowook would be there, he was doing it because he could. Because he wanted to. Because he was still going to enjoy the ocean no matter what. He liked the sound of it, the cool support, the way that Ryeowook had made him forget to fear it.

He saw movement. Seaweed, he was already gearing up to see, or drifting wood, or— It wasn’t that, but something moving purposely. He followed it out beyond the dock.

“Ryeowook?” he called, getting to the point he had to tread water. Maybe Ryeowook was angry, too. It made him angry at himself. They should’ve talked about it. He should’ve told Ryeowook that he couldn’t wait to see him again, or maybe let him know they could still be friends if they couldn’t be anything else.

“Ryeowook,” he said, again, and startled at a brush against his side. It was not a leaf front, but something solid. He knew he hadn’t been following a shark, but that was the first thing through his mind right then, reaching to touch, to push away, to turn back just in case.

Whatever it was, it wrapped around him, and instead of moving himself, he was being moved, hauled down into the water where his shouts turned into bubbles, gasping as he surfaced, coughing, choking, watching the shore get further away as he fought whatever was wrapped to him. It was thicker than a mans arm, tapered, and it was nothing made by man, but warm. Alive.

Shouts went unheard. But his fear didn’t.

***

Henry was shivering, but he could breathe by the time they slowed, fear mixing with confusion, trying to conserve his strength. He wasn’t just going to be eaten or be drowned. It was some tentacle as best he could tell. But he hated being cold, hated that he couldn’t see land in any direction. He’d gotten feelings for some merman, and he was being carted off like a sack of rocks by some octopus or squid or something.

His shouting for Ryeowook didn’t seem to do anything except make him hoarse, and Henry gurgled as his momentum stopped, sinking beneath the water for a moment before being lifted above the surface. He hung there, held , his legs feeling heavy as he dangled, and an enormous shoulder rose in front of him, a head, facing away. It was skin, the same color as the thing holding him, and Henry struggled.

“This is what you would forsake your people for?”

It was a voice, rumbling, and Henry shivered because he did not hear it, but it echoed in his head like it was trying to jelly his brain. But the voice he heard next was so familiar, so welcome.

“I— Henry, hang on! I won’t turn from my people!”

“Ryeowook,” Henry croaked, suddenly squeezed.

Ryeowook came into view, only to be lifted much as Henry was, his tail thrashing as he tried to escape the tentacle’s grip.

“Hey, let him go!” Henry demanded, pounding on the tentacle around him.

“He is frail and you know what you must do. You cannot linger here.”

Henry moaned, the voice again echoing in his head and the tentacle squeezing, making it harder and harder for him to draw in air.

“They are our cousins, the land walkers. We could learn so much! But I would not choose—“

“It is not enough. You choose, or I will choose for you.”

Henry shuddered, moaning, the tentacle drawing him down until the cold reached his shoulders, his neck.

“Henry!”

The last of it was muffled as Henry gasped in a breath and water rushed over his head. He clawed for the surface as it grew higher above him, clawed at the tentacle, bubbles leaving him as he struggled. Ryeowook struggled too, Henry saw, trying to twist, forcing more air out of his lungs as his chest burned. Ryeowook seemed to be trying to tell him something, twisting away from one tentacle, darting around another. Henry jolted, almost inhaling, desperate, blowing the last air from his nose and keening.

Ryeowook was touching him, his shoulders, his face, tugging at the tentacle that squeezed ever tighter.

Henry opened his mouth and inhaled, burning, choking. Ryeowook was shaking his head, shaking Henry and Henry couldn’t stop, his body demanding. He fought. He lost. Before he faded, he felt something pressed between his lips, felt his head tipped back, almost thought he heard Ryeowook’s croon. It was the end, he thought. At least Ryeowook was there. At least he wasn’t alone.

Henry woke to sand and water, sunlight rippling down over him from the sun above the water. He woke to Ryeowook stroking his face.

He woke to fins.

***

Henry pushed out, grasping with a hand, and it felt so odd, resistance like he was underwater. He inhaled, and he hurt, his ribs aching, trying to cough but not feeling right. He felt like— He felt like—

He was drowning!

Henry pushed himself up, his hands skidding through sand and he clutched as his throat, opening his eyes and feeling water cool against them. He tried to kick toward the surface and couldn’t, falling over, sinking, almost convulsing as he struggled for air, struggling not to breathe in the water.

“Henry. Henry!”

Hands clasped his face and still Henry struggled. Ryeowook. Ryeowook had to save him, he had to get him up to the surface. 

“Just breathe,” Ryeowook was telling him. “Just breathe. Inhale slowly. Your body knows what to do, you’ve been breathing just fine for hours.”

Henry gulped in water, trying to shout, trying to tell Ryeowook he was dying. He inhaled again. Again. He felt an odd rushing sensation near his ribs, and it took a dozen gulps to realize he wasn’t losing consciousness, wasn’t hurting any more.

“That’s right,” Ryeowook crooned at him. “Just keep doing that.”

He could hear Ryeowook in his head and he sounded just like he always did. His voice was so beautiful. He could relax, because Ryeowook was there. But he was shaking and Ryeowook was rubbing against his cheekbones.

“I’m glad you like my voice,” Ryeowook told him, and Henry’s eyes popped open. “I know you didn’t mean to tell me. You’ll learn— Oh, I have so much to tell you, to teach you. I’m so glad you’re alive.”

It was a different kind of shiver that went through him as Ryeowook kissed him. He was alive. Underwater, he could hear Ryeowook in his head, and after that monster—

“He’s gone!” Ryeowook almost shouted, before Henry could struggle to look. “He’s gone. I don’t think he thought I would be able to save you, and with so many of us missing, it’s not safe near the shore. He was protecting me, or he thought he was. I’m so sorry, Henry. I told him I wanted to be close to you, and I dreamed about this, but I wanted it to be your choice, like Kyuhyun chose.”

Kyuhyun had chosen to become like Zhou Mi. All Henry had done was get kidnapped by some weird kraken thing or whatever it was called. His own thoughts seemed to sink in, his panic fading, Ryeowook’s calm suffusing him. He lifted his hand, and it looked like his hand. A scar, there, where he’d cut himself as a teenager, clear indications of hours holding a violin bow. But there on the edge of his wrist, something he’d felt on Ryeowook, a sleek kind of aerodynamic fin.

“What?” he asked Ryeowook, and Ryeowook looked like he’d been slapped, helping Henry to sit up.

Instead of the two legs he expected from twenty plus years, legs he felt in his head, he saw scales. They were smooth under his fingers, the skin of his stomach giving way to what looked like blue in the watery light, and further away that he might have thought, a deceptively delicate looking tail fin that twitched when he looked at it. It almost felt like wiggling his toes, but so much different, and he laughed because it was so absurd and felt the urge to vomit all at the same time. He wasn’t himself any more. He was like Ryeowook. He had a home! He couldn’t just crawl up the beach without legs. And his family—

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Ryeowook said, wrapping his arms around Henry’s neck and holding onto him. “You were dying, and I couldn’t get you free. I had no choice. You were dying.”

He remembered that. He remembered Ryeowook, and how tight the tentacle had been, and how sure he was that he was dying. His hands slid on Ryeowook’s back, and that was so familiar, holding onto him, keeping him close.

“I didn’t want you to leave. When I told you you should be around others like you, I didn’t want you to go,” Henry told him, because he’d been waiting for what felt like years to say that. He lifted his tail fin again, staring at it over Ryeowook’s shoulder. “I guess that’s me too, now. I’m like you.”

“Yeah,” Ryeowook said, sliding back so that they were close, but could see each other. “I know you didn’t want me to go, though. I was just trying to find a way so I could have everything. But I can tell you all of that later. You’re learning to direct your thoughts. Here, underwater, we can talk this way. Before you were broadcasting everything. Babies learn it early, but I hear it’s not hard. I didn’t even have to tell you, and you’re learning.”

“Broadcasting to everyone, not just to you?”

“Anyone who can hear us and understand. The fish probably just think we’re funny. I took you as far away as I could so we could be alone. I knew it would be hard,” Ryeowook said. And even in his head, the next thought was quiet, “I’ll understand if you’re angry.”

“I don’t know what I am yet,” Henry told him. But at least he hadn’t woken up alone. That would have really been a nightmare.

“I wish we could keep talking but there’s something else we need to do. In case we need to flee, you need to know how to swim.”

He was as helpless as a newborn baby right then. Scuttling along like a crab on the ocean floor wasn’t going to cut it.

“Does my body know how to do this, too?”

“I think moving is a little different to breathing,” Ryeowook said, and he actually smiled then. “Trust me?”

Henry did. Ryeowook clasped him but the upper arms and towed them both up and up until the brightness seemed closer and the sea floor was beneath them. But Ryeowook did not stop, turning them parallel to sky and land, letting Henry watch the way he moved and waiting, keeping them up as Henry awkwardly convulsed.

“There’s a knack to it,” Ryeowook said. “You don’t need to fight the water. We’re moving through it. Pushing against it. Like this.”

Again, they moved further, Ryeowook urging him to copy him and still Henry felt like he was trying to make them swim backwards until he kicked out and instead of working against Ryeowook, they shot forward with almost twice the force.

“That’s it!” Ryeowook encouraged him. “Keep going!”

It was like trying to use muscles he never knew he had, but the motion was natural, not like trying to pat and circle at the same time. He didn’t trust himself until they’d been swimming in a big circle for minutes and he succeeding more than he was failing.

“Can I try alone?”

“Of course,” Ryeowook said, and let him go.

He started sinking, his heart leaping, but he got it, inelegantly kicking forward but swimming, slicing through the water without worry of running out of air, with nothing but the sound of water around him and Ryeowook swimming nearby and staying close. Ryeowook taught him that, how to swim in a straight line, how to angle himself up, or down, how to stop without looking like a fool, and how to stay mostly in one place. He wasn’t great at it. He wasn’t going to beat Ryeowook in a race, but he could move. He wasn’t quite as helpless.

“Can we go up?” Henry asked, staring at the ripples above.

“Of course.”

Ryeowook let him swim up on his own, and the air he dragged in as his head shot through the surface seemed to drive the water out of him, though he plunged right back under by accident, gurgling and using his tail and arms to keep his nose above water at least. He heard Ryeowook laugh at him, and he puffed his cheeks out in frustration.

“You make it look easy,” Henry said, using his vocal cords as he got most of his head out of the water at least. He dragged in air, and it felt weird and good and right at the same time. “It’s so weird, like air is just secondary. It’s so weird.”

“I’ve had a lifetime to be good at this. I promise I’ll teach you everything I know. You won’t be alone.”

Above him, the sky. He’d never been a bird, but he’d flown in planes. He’d never do that again. He’d never walk on land again, get a suntan. He could feel his skin getting tacky in the air and realized Ryeowook had endured so much just to be near him. But it was also too much for him to handle, shaking his head, sinking back under and letting the sea envelop him. Ryeowook looked at him with such sympathy, and sadness, and worry, and he took Henry’s hand, keeping him near as they made their way back to the sea bed and to a place that Ryeowook deemed sheltered and safe. Henry kept touching his face, his body, not believing it was real. It hurt when he was pinched, when his head slipped sideways to rest against a rock. Ryeowook was darting around beyond him, and he returned, triumphant, with a fish that Ryeowook had already killed.

“Normally we have better tools, but we’ll make do,” Ryeowook said. Blood stained the water, and Ryeowook tossed away the guts or whatever.

“Sashimi,” Henry said weakly, as Ryeowook handed him half of the fish that he’d pulled away without bones. He waved away Ryeowook’s question about what that was, and watched and tried to mimic how Ryeowook ate. The flesh of the fish was sweet, though a bit hard to chew. Still, it calmed his stomach and when he was done eating, Ryeowook calmed him, winding around him.

“Rest,” Ryeowook said, stroking against shoulder blades. Maybe he’d wake up from whatever he was caught in. Henry didn’t know if it was even possible to sleep. Or if in his new form, he’d be able to dream.

***

Henry still woke feeling like he was drowning sometimes, taking little naps with an arm hooked around Ryeowook like he was afraid he would drift away. Ryeowook was patient with him, feeding him, trying to teach him. And also when Henry’s brain decided it wanted to try to use legs he no longer had and he started flailing and drifting down.

He heard Ryeowook’s laughter and concern both until Henry figured out how to get himself going. It took a day, a morning, a second morning, before Henry was fully able to grasp what had happened. The lingering aches that Ryeowook had said were from the turning, and from his ordeal of almost drowning had started fading. He felt his scales, straining to rub his fingers over his broad fin. He didn’t feel cold in the water, but he surfaced the second morning, and he felt so normal. He dragged in air, feeling it replace the water inside of him. Beyond him, a beach. He’d never feel sand between his toes again, he realized with some regret. He’d certainly feel sand everywhere else, it seemed. Sand got kicked up by their fins, and his teeth were apparently no more adept at grinding sand than his human teeth had been. He wondered if there were merman dentists.

But he’d also gotten more adept at not shouting his thoughts to every sentient being.

“What is the most difficult thing out here for you?” Henry wondered. He’d struggled for jobs, for his music, for his grades. But Ryeowook had none of those.

“Now? Survival,” Ryeowook said. “When we are in groups, it is easier. Families, small…villages, I guess you’d say. Communities. There is protection in numbers. We are not the largest creature in the waters, and we are not immune to poisons, or hungry predators. That is why we search.”

“Have Zhou Mi and Kyuhyun moved on?”

“I know where they are headed,” Ryeowook said. “I started out with them, and turned back. I wouldn’t have left without saying goodbye.”

It soothed him a little.

“How long has it been, since I turned?”

“Four days. Five?”

Henry closed his eyes, ducking under the water to wet himself.

“My family. They’re going to worry. I need to let them know. But how? Even if could get to a phone, I don’t have any money.”

Ryeowook hummed. “You won’t have to worry about that. Humans are very bad about dropping things into the water. I can get you money.”

Henry winced. “Sorry.”

He felt like he had to apologize for his…former species, anyway.

But Ryeowook was true to his word, getting him enough coins that he could use.

All he needed was a phone.

“Hey kid!” Henry bellowed, stationing himself at the end of the pier.

A teenager wandered over, wary.

“Look, I left my phone, but I’m having too much fun. Can I borrow yours? I’ll pay you.”

Henry put the coins, stacked up on the edge of the wood. The kid shrugged.

“You dial,” Henry said, not trusting his wet fingertips.

He had the phone in his hand, heard the ringing. He prayed someone picked up.

A voice.

“Hi mom,” Henry said.

***

Henry’s mother had been waiting for him to get back in contact for almost the entire time that he’d been missing, since there’d been rumors of someone possibly caught in a rip tide. All he could be was apologetic, blaming it on stupidity and not knowing she was worried. He’d been exploring, was all he could tell her over the phone. His insistence that he needed to see her maybe made her think that he’d fallen into drugs or something, or maybe needed her to help him hide a body, but at least she’d been laughing, and the kid had been wary as Henry tried to cut it off as soon as the plans were made.

“Thanks, really,” Henry said, when he handed back the phone. And he took Ryeowook’s arm as he sank down, holding on as Ryeowook’s swimming speed carried them down and away.

“Will she even want to hug me when she sees me like this,” Henry laughed, thinking all manner of ridiculous things.

“You’re still her son,” Ryeowook told him. “When she knows what might have happened, surely she’ll be happy you’re alive. I wish I could have one more hug from my mother. I wish… I wish I could have introduced her to you. She’d have thought you were wonderful.”

Ryeowook’s hug was not like a mother’s, but it was satisfying as they pressed together, circling in the water.

“My mom is going to like you. She’s going to be way grateful that you saved me. So am I, obviously.” It just took getting used to. No one could fault him for that. “Thanks for sticking with me.”

“I would not have— Henry, I have no other place I’d rather be.”

And Ryeowook slipped back, smiling at him and leaving him hungry for another hug.

“Do you want to learn more about fishing?”

“Why, do you want to laugh more at me?” Henry complained.

Ryeowook laughed at him then. They had nets, fashioned from those discarded or lost by fishermen, but when times were dire, Ryeowook wanted Henry to know he could feed himself no matter what. It was exhausting, sometimes frustrating. But it was filled with laughter, and the reward of good food, and Ryeowook’s smile that Henry thought had just a little bit of pride in it.

And he had three more days before he would see his mother.

***

Henry tried not to worry about the things out of his control, his family, what he was leaving behind, the things that went on on land. They were compiling a little list of things they might like, that his mother might be able to get for them. A knife or two, was one item, a pair of scissors the other. They could try to keep them from rusting, but no matter how long of use they got out of them, they were two items that would make life easier. They’d started to assemble nets, finding one fishing net itself in a hoop that made life easier day to day. Having scissors to cut line so they could make repairs would be amazing. Sharpened rocks could only do so much.

He’d been scared, and angry at having been kidnapped, but he’d never wanted for anything. And his anger, it was not directed at Ryeowook, no matter how efficient Ryeowook was, how patient, how instructive. Sometimes he wanted Ryeowook to just connect with him when he knew Ryeowook was desperately trying to make sure that Henry could survive if they were ever separated.

That thought, that was a panic point. He didn’t know how the water changed with the seasons, how the fish did, how deep he could swim. Ryeowook tried to tell him, but some of that were things that Ryeowook had learned through living. Henry wasn’t alone, but if he suddenly was, stuck with nothing but the sound of the ocean - infinite water.

Henry turned toward Ryeowook in their little shelter, nets stabilized to help protect them in case they needed to flee. Ryeowook’s eyelids opened, considering him, and Ryeowook was still as Henry kissed him.

“What was that for?”

“For putting up with me,” Henry said, and when Ryeowook would have protested, Henry kissed him again. “For being amazing.”

Steadfast even when Henry was stubborn, comforting and pragmatic when Henry’s emotions were out of control. All of it he appreciated. They had fun, racing, helping Henry to get stronger, to learn more about how his body worked. But he saw how Ryeowook moved, too. He’d found Ryeowook attractive, when Henry had still been human. His lack of legs hadn’t changed anything in between. He didn’t know how things worked, if they worked at all, but Henry’s mind still wondered.

He both felt Ryeowook’s moan against his hand and in his head as Henry kissed him again. There had been kisses, touches, hugs, but not like that. Not in safety, and closeness, and not purely for want.

“Henry,” Ryeowook said, and there was another reason for hearing each other in their heads. They were kissing, and still they could talk.

“I like this,” Henry said, and Ryeowook hummed and ran his hand along Henry’s side. Along Henry’s back. Against the fin, there, low.

Henry gasped, arching. A bolt of sensation shot down through his spine, followed by warmth. Ryeowook smiled, rubbing further, letting his fingers slide on either side of the the fin, from top to bottom and making Henry squirm.

“You felt like this— You touched me there when I was human!”

“It is a place to share, for those who… Who think of each other as we do. It can be comfort, and it can be pleasure.”

There was no question which of those it was right then as Ryeowook rubbed his lips against Henry’s and helped to guide Henry’s hand to his back. Ryeowook’s moan had Henry throbbing, feeling Ryeowook squirm, trying to get closer, trying to kiss more.

“Henry, I— Please, can I?“

He’d never felt his body ache like that, not in his new body, and his approval was immediate, his eyes almost rolling back at the slide of fingers against him. He’d slid free of what kept him protected, stiff and ready, and it took only a minute, Ryeowook’s eyes on him, stroking him, stroking the nerves there, in his lower back.

His moans were broadcast for all who could hear, shuddering as pleasure, familiar and slightly altered, swamped him.

“There are other ways we can please each other, but that is one,” Ryeowook said. “I hoped… You are… Oh, Henry.”

Ryeowook held him, draped against his chest, and Henry wondered again at how much his life had changed. How lucky he was, to not be alone.

***

There were definite lulls in life, which was nice. It wasn’t all desperate trying to survive. Had they not been waiting for Henry’s mother, they’d have been traveling, and Ryeowook assured him that took up a lot of the day, too. As it was, they did a lot of exploring, finding little treasures, and a lot of trash. Ryeowook was honest with him about the futility, because there would always be more, but he helped still. Henry took scraps of net with him on their wanderings, using them as a makeshift bag. And then, when they got near back to humanity, Henry got to have a workout, because he got up to something to steady himself, and then lobbed the most heinous of the trash at one of the lifeguard stands. Some fell a little short, but most of it made it, and sure enough it was all gone the next time he came back with some more. He figured if he beached himself, at least he had arms, or Ryeowook could pull him back somehow.

“You’d drag me back off the beach, wouldn’t you?” Henry asked, flicking his tail against Ryeowook’s.

Ryeowook judged him silently that he’d even take that chance, getting so close.

“You kept coming to visit me,” Henry teased, and Ryeowook laughed as Henry hugged him from behind, swirling them around and around in the deeper water. The light from above was starting to wane, and it was their cue to move back toward their protected shelter. They swam near to each other, and Ryeowook sighed.

“At least I was going to visit a person. It’s just dangerous to get so close.”

“But this is our home,” Henry said. “I don’t want to see all this junk in it.”

“Henry.”

At least in their temporary home, he could get their tools, snagging them both a couple of small fish as practice. And with their stomachs full, he could pull Ryeowook back into his arms, relaxing in the last of the light. They both knew what the next day was, and Henry had been half needing to stay busy because he worried. He didn’t know how it would be, when he saw his mother again.

***

Henry stayed near some sheltered rocks, out of sight, watching through the water and bobbing up every so often to see if his mother was just out of his range of vision. Ryeowook kept touching him, stroking his back, squeezing his hand.

“I see her!” he practically shouted in his head.

He struggled up and up.

“Mom, down here!” Henry yelled, waving her down toward where he was, away from people, and the crowded beach. Near the rocks they could be close, without being seen. Henry ducked under the water as long as he could, coming back up and waving his mom over again.

“Henry Lau. I couldn’t reach you by phone, and that call you made was so cryptic. You tell me to come, and you’re just bobbing around swimming?”

Something tickled in the back of his throat as his mom sat on a rock and did the mom glare at him.

“I’m sorry you were worried. I told you you wouldn’t be able to reach me. They were holding all the stuff that was in the room I was staying in, so you can get that when you go. Something really big happened, and I don’t know how to tell you. I’m okay, though! You don’t have to worry.”

“What are you talking about, Henry?”

“I became the little mermaid,” Henry sad. “Or, merman, I guess.”

“What? What’s wrong with your skin. You look clammy.”

He felt dry, too, and he ducked down, wetting himself for a moment before lifting up to the surface.

“This isn’t something you can tell anyone. Okay? Mom, you have to promise.”

“I promise,” she told him. “What are you talking about?”

“Here, see?” Henry said. He held out his arm, and the texture, it was and wasn’t like human skin. The fin at his wrist, that wasn’t either, or the faint webbing.

“Is this some kind of a joke?” she asked, running her fingers against his wrist.

“No, it isn’t.” And that was his cue to show her the biggest thing. He twisted himself in the water, letting the lower half of his body rise, his fin, the scales covering him from his hips down, clear at the surface of the water. She touched, and he just needed her to believe him. The tail he couldn’t believe he had. The flowing fin. She pinched over the scales and he yelped a little, and she felt at his waist, where his skin transitioned.

“It’s— that’s not possible. You’re not—“

“I was going to die,” Henry told her honestly. “This was the price of having my life saved. I’m never going to— I’m not going to be able to come home, Mom. Can you still love me like this?”

“You’re my son! I don’t know how you could ask that. I don’t— It’s too much. Maybe there’s something that can be done to fix it.”

“I don’t want it to,” Henry said, ducking under the water again for a moment and getting his fins and scales again fully under the water and out of sight. “And I really don’t want to be some kind of lab rat. Maybe at first I wondered, but this is my life now. I’m not alone. The person who saved my life, he’s looking out for me. We’re going to find others who are like us.”

He called for Ryeowook, silently, and Ryeowook surfaced beside him, staying close to him.

“This is Ryeowook. He saved me. Ryeowook, this is my mother.”

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you,” Ryeowook said, lowering his head.

“I hear I should thank you for saving Henry’s life. But are you sure this can’t be reversed?”

Henry squeezed Ryeowook’s hand, and Ryeowook shook his head. “No, I’m sorry. It was the only choice to save him.”

“I can still stay in touch, though,” Henry said. He had a whole list of things he wanted, and had his mom make a list. A cell phone, with minutes that wouldn’t expire that his mom could replenish if necessary. A portable solar charger. A pouch, so he could use the phone without worrying about getting it wet. Several pairs of rust-proof scissors, and zip-tight plastic baggies. Paper, envelopes, and stamps as a back up. Plus, the smallest, most portable water-tight box to keep all of those things in. He figured he could keep money in it, too, and the scissors. If all else failed, he could borrow someone’s phone like he’d done, but he wanted the option of freedom. He could find a rock anywhere and charge the phone, and from there it would just require getting close enough to a tower to make a connection. Hell, he could still use the Internet that way, in case they needed to know about upcoming storms, or for that matter, figure out where the heck they were. They’d be high-tech mermen.

But it took his mom another two days to find everything that Henry wanted, and she came down at about the same time every day to visit him, and each time, he could see she maybe was coming to terms with things a little more. He showed her his fin again, though he didn’t ask Ryeowook to. Ryeowook came up to speak with her again once more, and strangely she didn’t want to join them in their meal of fresh fish.

“Henry,” his mom said, cupping his cheek.

“I’ll be okay. We’ll stay away from sharks. And boats. With the phone, I can call you. We can set up some place to meet again sometime!”

Somewhere probably far away from where they were. All those things had already occurred to her, apparently, and he sat still through her scolding anyway. But her handing over the water-proof case, it was clearly she felt like she was losing him entirely. She waded out to her hips in the water, and Henry hugged her, clung to her, inhaling the familiar scent of her and as she sobbed, Henry felt his eyes prickle. It was temporary. They’d see each other again. He promised her that, and he kept his promises.

“I love you,” Henry texted on the cell phone after she had left, before wiping it off on a leaf and tucking it back into the case. At least she would have that.

Ryeowook regarded the small case with suspicion, but he welcomed Henry, let Henry cling to him, as he mourned yet another piece of his life that he would never have again in quite the same way.

***

Henry decided he didn’t like traveling very much. It was better, in a way, than just lingering by the shore and waiting endlessly, but there was also so much unknown. He had all the things his mother had bought, their net trailing them. They took turns swimming in front to make it easier, though it took Henry a bit to find where to swim to keep from making it harder on himself and from risking a fin to the face. There was so much to see, even when it was murky and darker, with nothing but blue and endlessness around them. Ryeowook send out some kind of call every so often, one that Henry felt more than heard, and Ryeowook was trying to teach him to send that out too without much success. Mostly he just sounded like he was trying to gargle. At least that made Ryeowook amused at him. They sought out a safe place when it started getting darker, snagging meals as they swam, avoiding large schools of fish and watching them as well for signs of predators.

Henry had gaped as they swam below a giant whale, and Ryeowook had nearly had to tow him away.

“Don’t worry, whales like that don’t care about us,” Ryeowook said. 

“The sharks think we’re tasty, though,” Henry said.

They had a plastic compass, following it generally, though Ryeowook’s sense of direction seemed almost as keen. They were going the way that Zhou Mi and Kyuhyun had, the way they thought would help them find others. Every night, they took turns keeping a lookout. Henry was so tired, it seemed like he was tired all the time. They took half a day to do nothing but rest, and eat, and Henry knew it was mostly for his benefit. Ryeowook probably could have swam on endlessly.

“I wonder what they’ll think of me,” Henry said, twirling a fish bone between his fingertips.

“Who?”

“The others like you. If we find the others,” Henry said. “That thing took me because I was human, right? Maybe just because I have this, I’m still only half as good.”

Henry flopped his tail, and only half dared to look up as Ryeowook slipped closer.

“The others are like you, too. Just because you weren’t born with a tail doesn’t make you less than us. Considering how few of us they are, they should be glad!”

It was a fair point, he guessed. But even if he was learning, there was still so much, such a large amount he didn’t know.

“So they’d be glad to have another fish person who’s barely competent. But they probably would think you could do better. I mean, if there aren’t very many, then…”

“Henry!”

Ryeowook had had few enough occasions to nearly shout inside of Henry’s head that he winced, looking up a little guiltily as Ryeowook sighed.

“Some will always be suspicious of you because of your origins, but they will with anyone. Kyuhyun will be the same. Those aren’t the ones who will matter. We’ll make our home far away from them.”

“Do you think you’ll find others you used to know?” Henry wondered. That lit a spark in him that he hadn’t considered. Right, finding others didn’t just mean other strangers, but maybe friends, maybe others Ryeowook might have liked.

“It’s not likely, but maybe,” Ryeowook said.

“Maybe—“ And the words seemed to stick. “Maybe, you’d find someone you’d want to be with more instead?”

“Instead?” Ryeowook asked. “Instead of you? Instead of you? Don’t you realize how hard it was getting to watch you walk away when we met? I’d have— I’d have given up my fins if I could have to follow /you/.”

“But if you’d been around the others, and had choices—“

Henry startled when Ryeowook pushed against his shoulder.

“You think I only chose you because you were here and no one else was?”

“No, I—“

When Ryeowook turned on him and swam away, it was the merman equivalent of stomping off and slamming the door. It was still light enough for sun rays to be filtering down, but Henry pulled the net bag and his belongings closer as the space around him seemed both to contract and grow infinitely at the same time. He couldn’t see Ryeowook, or hear him. There was the occasional movement, a fish, an illusion of life. Ryeowook had left him alone before, and they’d separated to fish. But that was what alone felt like, right then. Not knowing how long it would be for Ryeowook to come back, not knowing what he’d say.

Ryeowook had traveled so long like that. Nights alone, and no promise that would change. Their home, Ryeowook had said. Not Ryeowook’s home, where Henry would be welcome, but theirs. He tried to imagine Ryeowook giving up his fins, and couldn’t. He didn’t know if he could have been glad for it. Henry was the one who’d had dozens of other humans around him on a daily basis that he could’ve chosen. Instead, there he was having upset Ryeowook, his— His…?

He discovered it was possible for his chest to feel tight, as he sat there, wondered. A hum had him stiffening, watching as Ryeowook emerged from the gloom with two fish in one hand and trailing seaweed in another.

“Ryeowook.”

Ryeowook swam right into his arms, and all the tightness let go as they tried to almost merge together somehow.

“Sorry,” Henry said.

“No, I’m sorry,” Ryeowook said, squeezing him tighter, and looking up so that Henry could see just exactly what he meant. “I didn’t realize you were worried. I should have told you more. You have no idea— I had no other way of saving you and I felt so terrible for taking that choice from you. But I also felt guilty because I was so happy knowing you’d be close, that we could be together.”

“I don’t think I could have accepted what happened with anyone else,” Henry admitted. That conflict, Ryeowook had been good at hiding it. But he felt how raw it was, how powerful it was. Even then, Ryeowook had taught him, had cherished him. “You caught me like a fish on a line. You can’t get rid of me now.”

Okay, it was a terrible joke, especially half sing-songed, and Ryeowook apparently completely despaired of him, but he also understood.

“Henry…” Ryeowook stroked his shoulder, and there was a little mischief in his eyes, too, when he looked up. “Besides, what if you find someone you like better when we find the others? Or—“

Ryeowook didn’t have to finish his question, and he didn’t need to as Henry kissed him, pressing their lips together gently, feeling Ryeowook relax into his arms. That was what he wanted, feeling Ryeowook smile, and feeling very accomplished indeed when he made some kind of pouty kissy face and Ryeowook still leaned in to kiss him.

“I’ll beat any of the others back,” Ryeowook muttered.

“Sexy,” Henry leered, and Ryeowook didn’t seem to have any idea of what to make of that as Henry laughed. “What would they call us anyway? On land we’d be boyfriends, or… Husbands, or something. But if someone asks what I am to you..?”

“You’re my other,” Ryeowook said. And he lifted his hand, touching Henry’s face, his neck, and sending tingles over Henry’s skin as he felt the weight of the word, the touch. “The most important part of me.”

“Your other. Would I introduce myself that way?” And Ryeowook nodded. “And are you my other then, too?”

Ryeowook glanced aside at that, almost squirming against him. “That’s entirely up to you. Two may not always feel the same, sometimes, and that’s okay.”

When Henry slid his fingers down the ridge of Ryeowook’s lower back, it wasn’t to arouse, but to connect. Ryeowook’s fingers found his spine as well, centering him, and the dying light made Ryeowook’s eyes seem luminous.

“My other,” Henry tested.

“Henry.”

Their dinner was protected for later, but left untouched for a long while after as they settled into the sand, speaking in touches, in kisses. He believed what Ryeowook told him, showed him. That he didn’t have to be afraid. Even in the midst of so much nothingness, so much danger, so many possibilities of being alone, he believed. And he thought, he hoped, that Ryeowook believed a little more with him, too.

***

Henry turned it over and over in his mind, looking for a place that would be perfect as they foraged, wandering from Ryeowook’s side with his little handmade spear at hand in case he needed to defend himself or decided he wanted a challenge in catching a fish. He knew what Ryeowook sounded like in his mind, how his control shattering scared the fishes sometimes as he moaned against Henry. He just wanted to hear it in a different way, and it took a week and a lot of fantasies, to finally find a spot.

“Do you think it’s okay to make noise here,” Henry whispered, pressing up against Ryeowook’s back as they surveyed the rocky shoreline.

“It seems deserted,” Ryeowook said. They’d found other places like it to set up the phone and see if Henry could get a call or a text out. “Did you want to…“

His words trailed off as Henry kissed his neck, his fingers straying to stroke against the small of Ryeowook’s back, squeezing against the short fin in a way that he knew made Ryeowook gasp. That time was no different, Ryeowook turning in his arms.

“Henry?”

“I want to here you, out in the air. I want to hear your voice,” Henry said.

“Oh.”

It wasn’t often that he got to hear Ryeowook breathless and off balance, and he liked it then, liked it as they spun in the water and kissed. He knew the hunger that Ryeowook looked at him with, felt it as he stroked Ryeowook’s back and kicked with his fin to get them closer to the rock. They could kiss easier, steadied there against the upright rock, pushed together by the water and the spray that also kept them wet even above the surface. He knew the pleasure of Ryeowook’s mouth, his hands, his body. He just wanted to hear him. Maybe it was a vestige of being human, but he just wanted everything.

Ryeowook’s arms were so solid around his waist, and it was just so easy, rubbing against each other, inside each other, warm and soft and wet, protected by the safety their hips had made. Ryeowook gasped with almost every movement, his fingers eager on Henry’s back urging him. He was the one making Ryeowook feel that way, and it was the power of the ocean at his back to urge him faster.

“Is that good?” he asked, and oh, that was harder. It wasn’t just pushing words out with his mind, but having to say them, to move, and breathe.

“You always make me feel good,” Ryeowook moaned. 

And that rush swept over Henry, urging his hips faster, watching as Ryeowook’s head fell back, water misting over his neck and face from the waves. It made him want to kiss that neck, feel Ryeowook’s moans against his mouth but it was all he could do to hang on, keep moving, to make Ryeowook— To make Ryeowook— 

“Henry!” Ryeowook cried out as Henry rolled his hips faster, feeling Ryeowook’s tail fin begin to beat desperately against his. It was like taking Ryeowook against a wall, and he loved it, loved hearing him.

“Yes,” Henry gasped, water dripping down over his face as he almost felt like he was swelling just to hear Ryeowook keening, see his head roll back and forth as Ryeowook gasped, and arched, and orgasmed as Henry took him desperately against the rock.

Henry’s own moans were choked as he continued moving, watching Ryeowook eyelids dip, drunk on pleasure.

“Henry,” Ryeowook urged him, his fingers rubbing fast against Henry’s back fin.

His shoulders strained, holding against the rock, grinding his hips, groaning as he came with the wave rushing against them. It made him moan, hearing Ryeowook’s pants, hearing his own, some sort of normalcy in a life he was still adapting to.

Ryeowook kissed against his face as they sank down, getting out of the way of the tide that was turning.

“I don’t think anyone heard us,” Ryeowook said, making sure they were safe, tucked away and floating as they watched the water move over their heads.

He wrapped his arms around Ryeowook, rubbing his cheek against his hair. No. But they’d heard each other. That was enough.

***

“How much drag does that suitcase cause you in the water?” Kyuhyun asked after they’d found him and Zhou Mi, circling Henry thoughtfully.

Suitcase. He’d made sure it was small on purpose, so Kyuhyun was just overstating things. Besides it didn’t even have everything in it. His diving knife was beside it, all carefully strapped on so that they didn’t cause any friction while they were swimming. Henry at least didn’t have to stop so often like he was a baby Ryeowook was trying to keep on pace.

“I can get you one if you want,” Henry said. Teasing was the better part of jealousy.

“A knife would be good. I have one stashed, but it’s tetanus waiting to happen. I don’t have anyone to contact, but storm information would be helpful.” Kyuhyun shrugged, a very human motion. “We have some coins. I’ll get you some.”

Henry was glad he could at least do something. Maybe other merpeople or whatever would think he was weird, but Kyuhyun got it. They had the benefit of living in two lives, two ways of thinking.

“Maybe you’ll invent the ocean computer,” Henry said.

“That’d be a feat. I’m just glad I can finally catch a fish! Sometimes even two if I let Zhou Mi eat the first one.”

Henry’s laugh bubbled out of him literally and Kyuhyun laughed right back at him.

“It’s like living in some giant aquarium. Or in some weird nature movie,” Henry said. “This stuff, I don’t know if I’m making it harder on myself. Clinging.”

“I don’t think so. Not unless it becomes a burden,” Kyuhyun said. “You haven’t had much time with this. You’ll find a balance.”

If his family got sick, if he got sick, there wasn’t anything he could do, no way he could to go them.

“If it was just you and I, we’d probably have been picked off by sharks weeks ago,” Henry said.

“Speak for yourself!”

They weren’t alone, though. As nice as it had been exploring, getting to know Ryeowook, there was a security in being with others, a lightness that he saw in Ryeowook as well. It was community, watching Kyuhyun tease Zhou Mi, watching Ryeowook get to know them. And still, as less and less light filtered down, Ryeowook drew Henry away, settling with him into their own sanctuary. Henry hummed as Ryeowook stroked through his hair and kissed him.

“I’m glad we found them,” Henry told him.

He felt Ryeowook smile. “Me, too.”

And he showed Ryeowook too how glad he was that they were together, just the two of them.

***

Warm days, sunny days, they sped to the surface and basked in the warming water, twisting, turning, racing. Henry beat Kyuhyun exactly once and he was pretty sure it was only because Kyuhyun had turned wrong, but Ryeowook had still kissed him in his celebration. It gave him goals, anyway. It was the four of them, but it was so clear, the bond from one to another, and the different ways it ran. Him to Ryeowook, Kyuhyun to Zhou Mi. He and Kyuhyun for their past, and Zhou Mi and Ryeowook for what they were. They were out there in the ocean, all of them together, but Zhou Mi and Kyuhyun sometimes stole away to skim under the water and chase the occasional bird. They held hands, which Kyuhyun had dared him with his eyes to comment on, but it wasn’t like he cared. It was cute. It was a human thing, and in an ocean it was easy to get separated in, an important thing. They were like otters or something, keeping connected.

He wondered if he could see an otter. Maybe, in right area. With those two off having their alone time, it left him and Ryeowook free to float. They linked arms, stroking against skin, stealing kisses as they stayed wet and took note of how long they were in the sun. Ryeowook rolled away from him, lapping him in the water as Henry droused and let his fingers slide above and below the surface. Cool, and warm, the rock of the water. Cool, and—

A fin. A curved fin.

Henry gasped, shouted and wasn’t sure if it was out loud or broadcast in his head. And then he dove, reaching in a flurry of bubbles for Ryeowook, and nearly slamming into him. His mouth worked, air and bubbles gurgling off his vocal cords, and he realized that Ryeowook was laughing and not trying to pull him away.

“It’s not a shark. Not a shark, look,” Ryeowook said.

Kyuhyun, who’d clearly heard part of it and had dove, was swimming up toward Zhou Mi’s outstretched hand, and the fin that Henry had seen, it was on the back of a dolphin.

No, not one dolphin, several of them, eyeing them curiously and nosing in as they circled around the four of them.

“Apparently I need to re-watch Jaws,” Henry said, and he waved off Ryeowook’s question. They got close to stroke along the sides of the dolphins, and he wondered what the dolphins themselves thought of them, these weird part-scaly mammals.

“Let’s race them,” Ryeowook said. “Come on.”

Zhou Mi’s laugh was so loud, and oh, they lost so badly, the dolphins picking up on the game and leaping, and twisting, and circling back around to pass them again. They tried to leap too, but Henry definitely felt more like a breaching whale, and he knew the sound of Ryeowook snorting at him in his head.

But eventually, the fun stopped, and they were left alone, the little family heading off to some distant destination.

“I need a dozen fish,” Kyuhyun grumbled, as they made their way back toward their shelter. “No, two dozen.”

Henry caught Ryeowook’s eye and grinned. It was good they had a net.

***

Henry wondered what was up when Ryeowook swam up behind him, wrapping one of his arms around Henry’s neck, and stroking Henry’s belly with the other.

“Can I suck your cock?” Ryeowook asked.

Henry regretted teaching Ryeowook that word so, so much, because to Ryeowook it was a word he knew he could get to Henry with. And Henry’s body just proved it when it made him start to throb.

“I guess. I have to think about it?” Henry tried to tease. He tried to get himself under control when all he could think about was Ryeowook’s hand and Ryeowook’s mouth on his neck. “I— Yes.”

It was almost a whine, and Ryeowook’s grin was immediate as he moved around in front of Henry and kissed against his mouth.

“I hoped you would say that. I’ve been practicing something, so I hope you like it.”

“Practicing?”

Pride in himself bubbled up that he could even form words as Ryeowook pressed Henry down onto his back and moved down his body. He was mostly hard when Ryeowook teased him free, and Ryeowook’s fingers on him, on any part of him, had him wanting to whimper.

“Yes, practicing by sucking on my fingers. Let me know if it’s okay,” Ryeowook said. “Let me know when you’re close.”

Slain by a mental image, and the actual image in front of him of Ryeowook taking him in his mouth. Ryeowook’s mouth was warmer than the water around them, and the contrast as Ryeowook’s head bobbed had him gasping. 

“You feel so good,” Ryeowook told him with his mouth still full, and Henry writhed as Ryeowook found the ridge at the small of his back, stroking against the sensitive skin as he sucked. It felt the same as all the other times, Ryeowook intent on bringing him pleasure. Pleasure that rose far too quickly.

“So good. Close,” Henry told him, almost frantic with it because Ryeowook’s tongue was removing all his control.

“I’m going to hold on tight,” Ryeowook warned, before wrapping one arm around Henry’s hips.

And it all changed. Ryeowook stilled for a moment, and Henry could feel a rush, water being forced from Ryeowook’s lungs. Water that once gone left a void, a vacuum, a steady tug around him that grew stronger with Ryeowook’s sealed lips. Ryeowook’s body was buoyed by it, and Henry realized why Ryeowook had waited, because he wasn’t breathing, just rubbing at Henry’s spine and working him urgently with his tongue. They floated upward with the pull of Ryeowook’s mouth, that pretty mouth, and it grew stronger, and stronger as Henry’s eyes rolled back, his hands reaching fruitlessly for something to hold onto as his tail beat against the sand. He didn’t know if he came, or if Ryeowook’s mouth dragged it from him, but the pleasure convulsed him, moaning in his head, gurgling it from his throat. Ryeowook breathed, and everything eased to the sweetest sucking, and Henry stared blearily up into the water above him as they sank back to the sand, with Henry’s arms flopped uselessly beside him and his whole body humming.

“You— Can you teach me to do that?” Henry asked, as Ryeowook gently tucked him away and safe.

“Any time,” Ryeowook said. The grin was sweet, but Ryeowook’s lips were reddened. No doubt warm, and—

And Ryeowook was hard, ready for pleasure from getting Henry off.

Henry could hardly move, but he could pull Ryeowook toward him, get him close, and roll over until he could suck Ryeowook into his mouth as well. Ryeowook’s hips were bucking almost immediately, his moans filling Henry’s head.

“Oh Henry,” Ryeowook gasped, massaging Henry’s hair and sliding smooth between his lips. “Oh, I love you!”

Henry’s eyes opened wide as Ryeowook came in his mouth. His swallows were quick, soothing Ryeowook with his fingers, stroking against his back. They stayed just like that for a while, Henry’s heart beginning to rest, and feeling Ryeowook begin to relax. Henry’s mind was racing, but nothing that he could make sense of. Ryeowook— Ryeowook? Ryeowook squirmed back down, hooking his arm around Henry’s ribs.

“You don’t need any tricks,” Ryeowook hummed, tucking his face into Henry’s neck flattering him immensely. Ryeowook had just been that turned on. The most important part of him, Henry repeated to himself. Ryeowook had told him that already, but in a different way. If it was even the same thing, but it had to be. And he held Ryeowook as he slept, waiting for his own mind to follow.

***

It was Zhou Mi who stopped, just before Ryeowook. They looked at each other, and Henry frowned, wondering if they were having some kind of private conversation that he and Kyuhyun weren’t privy to. But Ryeowook’s eyes were wide as he turned right back and almost bumped into Henry.

“Do you hear it?”

He tried to hear, with his ears, which was a losing proposition. They weren’t for that, under the water. But beyond that, like a TV set in another room, he did hear other things. Other…voices in his head.

“Others?” he asked.

“Let’s go find them,” Ryeowook said.

Zhou Mi and Ryeowook seemed to have some kind of radar, and Henry felt like he was in a pool game totally losing the plot. 

“I can’t tell what they’e doing either,” Kyuhyun said, to Henry alone.

“I’m glad I’m not the only one.”

Though he tried to pay attention, a skill he might have to use one day. And the closer they got, the sounds went up, until the voices were full of instructions, and they approached some kind of tower almost. There were half a dozen to greet them, a show of force, but also of welcome, too Henry though. There was a woman among them. A mermaid? Was that not a good term? Ryeowook would tell him, later.

“Welcome to the waypoint,” a merman named Hakyeon told them. Beyond him, another merman, quiet and watchful. “We are eager to hear your news, and to give you information as we know as well.”

It was safe, and protected, being brought fish, and welcomed. It was too much, really, after being so secluded, with only the four of them. Henry stayed close to Ryeowook’s side, and startled to see the man introduced as Kyungsoo looking at him.

“You were human,” he said, his voice lifting above all the other voices, and Henry just barely kept himself from recoiling.

“I was,” he said, seeing no need to deny it. “How do you know?”

“There is another here. Maybe they will tell you. Don’t worry, you are welcome.”

Henry looked around, to Joohyun who rested with Jongin stroking her belly, to Joonmyun who was studiously drawing a map in the sand that Zhou Mi and Kyuhyun were poring over. There was Taekwoon, and Hakyeon talking to Ryeowook, and who knew who all more that had stayed out of sight.

Ryeowook looked over at him, smiled at him, and Henry couldn’t help but smile back. He looked so happy, so pleased to be around others. He tucked down some of his own fears, stroking along Ryeowook’s back and laughing as he listened to a story Jongin was telling of a great shark escape. Joohyun was judging him, and Kyungsoo had drifted until his arm was around Joonmyun’s waist.

They couldn’t stay, the waypoint not for that. But their information, they could leave, and with the maps they had been given, they could go forward. It was a safe place. No sharks. Just the sound of new voices, and new friends.

***

Sometimes Henry had nightmares, and he hated it. The memory of being dragged through the ocean, unable to breathe, Ryeowook saving him. He had nightmares of vomiting up the pearl he had swallowed and running along the beach unable to get back to Ryeowook. Of being left, of being chased by cars, some of them inexplicably in the ocean. He didn’t dream a lot of sharks, even thought they’d seen some. Ryeowook was always watchful, though he was more afraid of humans than of sharks it seemed.

Which was kind of funny considering they’d met at all.

Ryeowook soothed him, if he ever woke, thrashing. Ryeowook stroked against his skin and cooed sleepily, and let Henry gather himself. One of them always had to be awake, if the ocean floor was too deep, and Henry didn’t mind that. They floated together, linked like otters, secure in the cradle of the water. Henry sometimes watched the moon glint of the surface, even as his senses that Ryeowook was still helping to train searched for predators. More than just his eyes. And traveling all four of them, Ryeowook, and Zhou Mi, and Kyuhyun as well, it was easier even then. Extra senses to go around.

Henry sped up, coming even with Ryeowook in the water instead of swimming in his wake. He swam with his face up toward the surface and Ryeowook above him, shadow and sparkles, and ripples, and Ryeowook sending him a confused look with his hair streaming back. He just grinned and laughed, and Ryeowook indulged him as Henry darted up and engulfed him, kissing as they spun like bullets in the water.

“What was that for?” Ryeowook asked, when they parted and picked up the pace to keep close to Zhou Mi and Kyuhyun.

“Just because,” Henry shot back. Sometimes that was enough

***

Henry blinked at the phone, coming to life after a while on the solar charger. January…January! It wasn’t like the days went any faster swimming. Had it been almost a month? He was lugging around the stuff, so he shouldn’t have forgotten it, it was just a pain to find a place to get set up, to put on special gloves and connect everything up, not to mention finding a place that had cell tower reception. He had text messages, merry Christmas, happy new year, from his family. He sent some quick messages back and a picture of where he was. He couldn’t really send pictures of himself, unless he got them really up close. There was some definite mermaid-feature stuff going on that he hadn’t noticed until he was gawking into a camera. It was normal! On Ryeowook or the others, but just weird on him.

“We missed Christmas! And New Years!” Henry said to Kyuhyun when he’d gotten everything put away and swam back down to join the others.

Ryeowook had been popping up behind him now and then just watching for people and danger, but Ryeowook was beside him then. That was definitely a human thing, the others didn’t get. Maybe Kyuhyun hadn’t had family, but there’d been friends. Things he’d miss.

“What’s Christmas and new year?” Zhou Mi asked.

“It’s… It’s kind of complicated, I guess. Christmas, it’s kind of changed hands, but it’s almost always been about celebrating the birth of a god? And people celebrate in different ways, I guess. They bring trees inside, and decorate them, and have feasts, and give each other gifts. Family time, and goodwill, and stuff, at least where I grew up.”

Henry looked to Kyuhyun to see if he’d missed something.

“I like gifts,” Kyuhyun said, his chin on Zhou Mi’s shoulder.

It made Henry and Zhou Mi laugh.

“Like Poseidon?” Ryeowook mused, and Zhou Mi nodded.

He and Kyuhyun stared at each other. “Uh. Like…yeah.”

Was that a real thing? Or maybe just a myth, or— He was a merman, so what was he even saying.

“New year… We have calendars that mark the passage of time, so it’s just a unit of measurement, going from one segment to the next, and people celebrate it,” Kyuhyun said. “Like marking the changing of the currents or something. Woohoo, we survived another year.”

“What kind of gifts?” Zhou Mi asked.

“People make stuff, or buy stuff, or… Keep watch when their partner has to do weird stuff on the surface.”

Ryeowook exhaled bubbles as he laughed, mirth flowing through them. It wasn’t like they carried calendars. Ryeowook probably didn’t know what day he was born, though maybe he might know the season. It felt almost superficial and removed, from how they were then. Gifts were life and death, and when they had time for more, they did without ceremony. Surviving another day, another night, was reason to celebrate. Ryeowook pressed against him for a moment, before they were set to move further from the coast for safety. Henry touched his back ridge gently, for comfort, for himself as well.

***

_Every direction that Ryeowook had swam in after splitting from Zhou Mi and Kyuhyun when he had left Henry the first time, his decisions were more and more grim. He felt the threat around him, but not to himself. It was different than the stalking of shark, or watching warily for a seal. It was his whole being. He traveled the coast at first, thinking that staying close to land would soothe him. It just reminded him of humans, of Henry._

_The islands were no better, floating under propellers, mesmerized by colors, and sounds. And it was the open ocean that called to him - for the first time for one of the first times out of a sickness to be alone, instead of the drive to find others. Alone, he could find himself, maybe come to see the wisdom of the decision he was being urged to. Forget the human, acknowledge it would have been safer to stay in a group. The group he’d abandoned, when every flick of his tail carrying him away had been…_

_Ryeowook floated in the open water, staring up at the moon shimmering through the water itself. The ocean was pulling itself, flowing, crashing to shore. Zhou Mi hadn’t made a mistake. Henry might ever be on land, but there was something in him that saw more of Ryeowook than anyone he’d known. They were alike, somehow._

_Turning back toward land wasn’t so much a choice as it was a reflex. But perhaps, his intentions had been caught out more than he knew, when he heard Henry cry out. All his thoughts then were: save him._

***


End file.
